CCCC 
CiC 

ccc 

CCC 

CCC 

CT 

ex 

<SC 









cc c etc: cc *%& c 

C<C<C cc <xxx 
CC C«C CC CCCC 

cc' ccc cc crro 

g CC CC 'GC< 

cc cc cc CC< 

cc c c cc, cc< 

cc cc <fc <M 

eye CC CC- -Cc< 

CCC CC Ccc 

,c cc cc <i& 

c c GC: CC ; C 



m^m 1 *^^ 



CC 

cc 

cc 



c ccrccrcc 
fc «occ 
c ccc cc 
cc ace: cc. 

C? CLOC «c 
cc ccc ^: 

cc ccc cc 

CC CCC <§E 
efc; CC <S^ 

cc c c cc 

cc cc cc 



^LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. # 

1 1 ' : — w^trr 1 

Mtuf.' $»¥<#•, 



<^c 

CC 

cc 
cc 

cc: 
cc 

' c 



IK 



J UNITED STATES OP AMERICA 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 



L ( t. 

C CCsC 

C CX<3C 
Ctcar 

a CC C 



C 



<C 



<C 

cc ' 
CC C 



p 

cc 
cc 



C4 



C CC «£,■•« 

ccc c i 

c ccc cc c@c^cccrc 
ccc cc:c<gom<KCC 



cc 
cr 

ccc 

ccc 

cc 

cc 
cc 

CC 
CC 



# 



ac ^ 



cm 

cc 






<d <^ccc 

<CC <ttC < 
<3C <scc c 



<CCL cc 

lc<c cc 

CC'JCVC 
CC <CL cc 

CC / J£_ _a 



CSS 

cc 
cc 
cc 



ccc 
^^: cc 

^3E"cc 



«£ 



:CC 

T-CC 

ccc 
cc. 
ccc 

cc 

cc 

cc 

.CC. 
C<C 

<ce 
ccc: 






cc: <scc. oo ^5-^5 

ccrcOC^ 

<£cf<st: 
<rc<ar« 



^Mdml^c: 




ilH WIKDIL1IFIF, El 



^h>,y a ■ ^''r/-"- ','/ //if ■^<Oz^<?<^U?7P 



.J//M,y, 






Tuilisltcd ~bu Z>.3f c jrenz.ie,G7aj-c?(>ir. 



SELECT MEMOIRS 

OF THE 

LIVES, LABOURS, AND SUFFERINGS, 

OF 
THOSE PIOUS AND LEARNED 

ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH DIVINES, 

WHO GREATLY DISTINGUISHED THEMSELVES 

IN PROMOTING THE 

REFORMATION FROM POPERY; 

IN TRANSLATING 

warn sa!3iLS& 

AND 

IN PROMULGATING ITS SALUTARY DOCTRINES BY THEIR 

NUMEROUS EVANGELICAL WRITINGS; 

AND 
WHO ULTIMATELY CROWNED THE VENERABLE EDIFICE 

WITH THE CELEBRATED 

WESTMINSTER 
CONFESSION OF FAITH, 

fyc. fyc. Sfc. 
BY THOMAS SMITH. 



They had trial of cruel Blockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and im- 
prisonments. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves 
of the earth, being destitute, afflicted, tormented ; of whom the world was not 
worthy. — St. Paul. 



SECOND EDITION. 

GLASGOW: 

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY D. MACKENZIE. 

1828. . 

[Entered in Stationers' Hall.] 



.St 



PREFACE, 



When we take a retrospective view of the Church prior to 
the Reformation, and contemplate the inhuman cruelties exer- 
cised on the few faithful and conscientious christians who had 
the fortitude to oppose the errors, and reject the idolatrous 
worship, of Rome, and would not bend their consciences to the 
yoke of a luxurious and domineering priesthood, whose God 
was mammon, and whose religion was legalized robbery. 
When we consider the perpetual dangers to which they were ex^- 
posed, the cruel mockings, scourgings, tortures, and deaths to 
which their faithfulness frequently subjected them; and then 
compare their deplorable condition with the manifold blessings 
and privileges enjoyed by the present generation, we have every 
reason to exclaim, with the Psalmist, " truly the lines have fal- 
len to us in pleasant places, and we have a goodly heritage." 
We are left to the free and deliberate exercise of our own judg- 
ment, in worshipping God according to the convictions of our 
own mind, nothing to disturb or alarm us. No bishops' court, 
no star-chamber, to inveigle and entrap us by their inquisitorial 
examinations, nor racks, and other instruments of torture, to, 
enforce us to give evidence against ourselves. 

But when we thus laudably exult in the possession of so many 
important blessings, the question will naturally occur to our 
minds, How have the times been so wonderfully altered, and 
the sentiments of our rulers so happily changed, since the days 
of our fathers ? The answer is easy. The manly fortitude of 
our progenitors rendered it indispensable, and their mild and 
rational sentiments, imbibed from the holy scriptures, made it 
desirable. Had it been otherwise, and, in place of resisting the 
tyrannical injunctions of these lordly ecclesiastics, had our fa- 
thers of the Reformation meanly submitted to their debasing 



IV PREFACE. 

mandates, where had been our religious liberty, and where had 
been our natural rights as men and citizens ? The struggle in- 
deed was long and arduous, but the triumph has been glorious, 
highly honourable to our fathers, and importantly beneficial to 
us their children, to whom they have bequeathed the precious 
deposit, that we might transmit the same untarnished, and un- 
impaired, to posterity, that generations to come might know the 
mighty works of God, even in the days of old. 

It is a lamentable consideration, however, that the practice of 
the present generation by no means accords with their inesti- 
mable privileges. Every species of vice and immorality great- 
ly abounds, while irreligion and infidelity threatens to blot out 
every serious impression, and laugh down every religious senti- 
ment. To be serious, in our time, is to be unpolite, and ten- 
derness of conscience is accounted weakness and hypocritical 
scrupulosity. Profane wits level their shafts of ridicule against 
every thing sacred and serious, and bards and novelists conspire 
in forwarding the general defection. They know the taste of 
the times, and accordingly manufacture their impious pleasan- 
tries, so as to gratify the humour of their customers, and pro- 
mote the sale of their stock in trade; nor could the labours and 
sufferings, the exemplary lives, and triumphant deaths, of a 
number of our eminent Reformers, nor even the graves that 
enclose their bones, secure them from unmerited malevo- 
lence. 

These excellent men had devoted their labours and their lives 
to the service of God and their country, at a time when 
she was sunk beneath a weight of moral and political degrada- 
tion, and bewildered in a maze of debasing superstition, that 
seemed to preclude the possibility of her emancipation; yet, by 
their patient sufferings, and invincible fortitude, they became 
instrumental in restoring their afflicted countrymen to happi- 
ness, light, and liberty; and this ungrateful generation, who en- 
joy the fruits of their triumphant labours, can listen to, and 
laugh at, the silly pasquinades of these money-catching children 
of levity and burlesque, who sacrilegiously disturb the ashes, 
and insult the memory, of the best benefactors of their country. 

The present generation must soon sleep with their fathers, 
and leave their children to fill their respective places in society, 
when the care of religion and morality will naturally devolve 
on them; but, in order that they may be qualified to acquit 
themselves with zeal and propriety for its interest and prospe- 
rity, it will be necessary that they become acquainted with its 
principles, and be influenced by its spirit and captivating excel- 
lency. And what can be better calculated for producing these 
desirable effects, than an impartial review of the lives and ho= 



PREFACE. V 

nourable achievements, not of mighty conquerors, who have 
marched to the objects of their ambition through scenes of blood, 
but of humble christians, who, like their meek and lowly Mas- 
ter, for the infinite importance of the object contended for, en- 
dured the cross, despising the shame, and with clean hands and 
pure hearts, washed in the blood of the great atoning sacrifice, 
found an abundant entrance administered into the blessed so- 
ciety of just men made perfect. 

It will readily be granted, that they were not all of precisely 
the same opinion in regard to some of the less important con- 
cerns of Christianity. In this imperfect state of existence, it 
has not been, nor can it ever be expected, that any large body 
of men will hold the self-same opinions; but the Reformers, on 
all essential points, seem to have been harmoniously agreed. 
Salvation through grace, and good works as the evidence of 
that grace; this was the centre around which they rallied, and 
the magnet that attracted their correspondence; it was this 
that animated their exertions, and elevated their hopes. 
With regard to church-government, however, there existed 
amongst them various shades of opinion; and respecting the 
doctrines of religious liberty, the sentiments of not a few were 
rather confused and indistinct; but the majority seems to have 
admitted that, in as much as every individual must account for 
himself at the final reckoning, so he has the undoubted right also 
to judge, think, and determine for himself, in this his probation- 
ary state. On this subject judge Blackstone has judiciously 
remarked, " that our ancestors were much mistaken, when they 
considered the mere difference of religious opinions a proper 
object of coercion and punishment, and that persecution for 
opinions, however ridiculous and absurd these opinions might 
be, is at variance with every maxim of sound policy and civil 
liberty, and unjustifiable on every principle of moral rectitude 
and true religion." 

For although the hypocritical policy of churchmen may, by 
working on the fears and credulity of the ignorant, reduce them 
to the most abject slavery and unqualified obedience, still the 
throne of oppression and superstition stands on very precarious 
ground, and can only be defended by perpetuating that igno- 
rance and credulity by which it had been first erected; the jea- 
lous possessor is therefore under the necessity, of closing up 
every chink in the edifice through which a ray of light can pe- 
netrate. Hence the illiberal maxims of the Romish church, 
That ignorance is the mother of devotion : That the holy scrip- 
tures cannot with safety be committed to the inspection and in- 
vestigation of the people, least, by wresting them from their 
true meaning and import, they bring upon themselves damna- 



VI PREFACE* 

tion: That the priesthood are the only true and legitimate ex- 
pounders of the oracles of God: That an implicit faith in the 
doctrines of the church, with a filial and reverential obedience to 
her motherly admonitions and discipline — constitutes a genuine 
member of the catholic body, and secures his everlasting salva- 
tion. And notwithstanding that men, from the corruption of 
nature, and the power of temptation, are apt to be drawn aside 
from their duty, and into the commission of sin, there is hope 
in Israel for even this. God, in compassion to the frailty of our 
nature, has qualified and commissioned the pope, his only visi^ 
ble vicegerent on earth, and his holy agents the priests, to par- 
don and absolve all manner of sin? iniquity, and transgression, 
and that on very moderate and reasonable terms. That the 
saints in heaven, being arranged in various degrees and classifi- 
cations, those catholics aspiring to the highest order, may se- 
cure their places, while here on earth, by services done for the 
honour and security of the church militant, or donations bestow- 
ed towards augmenting her treasures, which services will be 
amply rewarded by the distinguished rank they shall hold, and 
the superlative felicity they shall enjoy, in the church trium- 
phant, 

Were it not that these facts have been attested by a cloud of 
learned and respectful authors, the protectants of the present 
age could scarcely believe, that men of common sense, much less 
men of learning, would have debased themselves by teaching, or 
that the most ignorant rational being couldbelieve, such impudent 
and audacious absurdities. That the great mass of the people 
were brutishly ignorant, and childishly credulous, we are assur- 
ed by the same authority. Numbers, however, even in the dark- 
est ages of popery, governed their lives by very different maxims, 
and privately instructed and comforted one another with better- 
founded expectations; but such was the intolerance of the times, 
that their testimony for the truth was chiefly confined to confi- 
dential whispers; so that the church had a long, dark, and dis- 
mal night, before the most courageous of her children had the 
hardihood, in the face of such a cruel and relentless power, to 
put the trumpet to their mouth, and proclaim a warfare, in which, 
He that draws the sword must throw away t«he scabbard ! The 
honour of this hazardous enterprise was reserved for Wickliffe, 
Tindal, Hues, Jerome of Prague, Luther, Calvin, Knox, and 
their numerous coadjutors; but the unspeakable advantages fell 
to the share of theirs and succeeding generations. 

Thus has the prey been taken from the mighty, thus the cap- 
tives, bound in chains of ignorance and superstition, have been 
delivered, and the blessed bible, which, in the ages of popish 
darkness, could only be possessed or perused at the peril of 



PREFACE. Vll 

life, has in our time found its way into the most barbarous 
countries, and almost into all languages; while a high way has 
been opened for the march of intellect, and the exercise of rea- 
son. The happy consequences of the labours and sufferings of 
our revered worthies, to whom the world are in deep arrears of 
gratitude, and whose names will be held in honourable regard 
to all posterity. 

In this Work, the reader will see that the temple of truth has 
been adorned by the holy lives, and cemented by the blood, of 
a multitude of patriots and martyrs, of whom the world was 
unworthy. There he will see the brightest patterns of unwav- 
ering stedfastness, active zeal, faith, patience, and christian be- 
nevolence; the fortitude displayed, the sufferings endured, and 
the blessings acquired; and learn, from their enormous price, to 
appreciate their real value and importance. 

Not writing to please any particular party, or vindicate any 
particular set of opinions, the Author has studied the strictest 
impartiality. He has not covered the imperfection of those 
men whose lives he has introduced, nor withheld the accusa- 
tions of their enemies, but stated, without reserve, both their 
faults and excellencies. He has not spared bigotry or persecu- 
tion with whomsoever found, nor lauded the sufferers with un- 
deserved praise. His design being to give a clear and candid 
statement of facts, he has spared no pains in collecting and ex- 
amining the necessary materials; from which, he flatters him- 
self, he has selected whatever is most curious, useful, or inter- 
esting. 

The Work commences with the lives of those renowned 
English Worthies, who introduced and effected the glorious 
Reformation from popery, and concludes with those, who, un- 
satisfied with the splendid ceremonial and Romish peculiarities 
of the church of England, could not conscientiously conform to 
her superstitious ritual, and were therefore denominated Non- 
conformists or Puritans. The Reformation of the church of 
Christ was the sole object of both, their opinions were the same, 
and it will be difficult to determine who suffered most, or act- 
ed the better part. The same reasons that induced the former 
to labour for the Reformation from popery, induced the latter 
to exert themselves for the Reformation of the church of Eng- 
land. Their labours, their influence, and their zeal, were de- 
voted to this desirable work, and notwithstanding that they en- 
deavoured, by the most peaceable means, to purge the church, 
of which they were members, from all its antichristian impuri- 
ties, they were branded with the name of puritans, and many 
of them, for their non-conformity, suffered suspension, impri- 
sonment, and persecution even unto death, 



Vlll PREFACE. 

The Work will therefore furnish the reader with a circum- 
stantial account of the arduous conflict for religious liberty, 
from the days of John Wickliffe. Here he will find some 
of the merciless proceedings of the court of High Commission 
and the Star- Chamber, two terrible engines of cruelty and 
injustice, whose unparalleled oppressions, and unprecedented 
barbarities, in place of reconciling men to the unity of the esta- 
blished religion, drove them farther and farther off, confirmed 
them in their non-conformity, alienated their minds from the 
prelatical priesthood, and greatly increased their own number 
and reputation. 

In a Work of this nature, it appeared necessary to give the 
reader some account of the errors, encroachments, and corrup- 
tions of the Romish church, that led to the long and arduous 
struggle before us. This he will find in the Historical Sketch 
of the Christian Church, with which the Memoirs are intro- 
duced. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. Page. 

Preface, 3 * Chambers, Humphrey, D. D. 489 

Contents after Preface. I Cheynell, Francis, D. D 491 

Introduction, 9 \ Coleman, Thomas, A.M. ... 494 

Ames, William, 419 j Coping, John, 237 

Arrowsmith, John, D. D. ... 457 * Corbet, Edward, 497 

Ashe, Simon, 459 j Cotton, John, B. D 389 

Baillie, Robert, D.D 623 j Coverdale, Miles, D. D 212 

Balsom, Robert, 378 j Cranmer, Thomas, D.D. ... 185 

Baylie, Thomas, B. D 463 j Crook, Samuel, B. D 398 

Baxter, Richard, 691 J Downing, Calibute, D. D. ... 499 

Bernard, Nathaniel, A.M.... 357 \ Dury, John, , 500 

Blackerby, Richard, 401 \ Elliston, John, 247 

Bolton, Robert; D. D 353 j Fenn, Humphrey, 266 

Bond, John, 464 j Ferrar, Robert, 206 

Bowles, Oliver, B. D 465 j Field, John, A. M 238 

Bradford, John, 150 \ Frith, John, 98 

Bradshaw, William, A. M.... 320 I Foord, Thomas, A. M 503 

Bridge, William, A. M 466 I Fox, John, A.M 240 

Broughton, Hugh, 311 j Foxcroft, John, A. M 507 

Burgess, Cornelius, D.D.... 446 \ Fulke, William, D.D 255 

Burgess, Anthony, A. M. ... 469 * Gataker, Thomas, 508 

Burroughs, Jeremiah, A. M. 443 \ Gillespie, George, 629 

Burton, Henry, B. D 361 \ Gilpin, Bernard, B. D 225 

Byfield, Richard, A.M 471 \ Goodman, Christopher, B. D. 301 

Calamy, Edmund, B.D 472 j Goodwin, Thomas, D.D. ... 526 

Carter, William, 478 * Gouge, William, D. D 532 

Caryl, Joseph, 479 \ Gower, Stanley, 537 

Case, Thomas, A. M 483 j Green, John, A. M 538 

Cawdrey, Daniel, A. M 488 \ Greenham, Richard, A. M... 260 

Cawton, Thomas, 417 £ Greenhill, William, A. M.... 539 

Chadderton, Laurence, D.D. 359 \ Greenwood, John, 285 



CONTENTS. 

Page. Page. 

Hardwick, Humphrey, 541 j Reynolds, Edward, D. D. ... 589 

Harris, Robert, 542 i Ridley, Nicholas, 173 

Henderson, Alexander, 648 $ Robinson, John, 334 

Herle, Charles, A.M 548 j Rogers, John, 117 

Heyrick, Richard, 550 * Rutherford, Samuel, 636 

Hickes, Gasper, 552 i Samson, Thomas, D. D 269 

Higginson, Francis, A.M... 348 $ Saunders, Laurence, 123 

Hill, Thomas, 553 \ Saxton, Peter, A. M. 400 

Holland, Thomas, D.J). ... 309 j Scudder, Henry, B. D 590 

Hooker, Thomas, 374 i Seaman, Lazarus, 592 

Hooper, John, 131 j Sedgwick, Obadiah, B. D.... 593 

Hoyle, Joshua, D. D 556 \ Sibbs, Richard, 422 

Humphrey, Laurence, D. D. 249 \ Simpson, Sidrach, B. D 596 

Janeway, John, 403 j Smart, Peter, A. M 381 

Johnson, Francis, 296 $ Snape, Edward, 258 

Lambert, John, 112 \ Spursto we, William, D. D... 598 

Langley, John, A. M. 415 \ Staunton, Edmund, D. D. ... 599 

Lathrop, John, 396 * Sterry, Peter, B. D 606 

Latimer, Hugh, 157 $ Taylor, Rowland, D. D. ... 140 

Leighton, Alexander, D.T>. 426 $ Travener, Richard, 218 

Ley, John, A.M 557 \ Travers, Walter, B.D 325 

Lightfoot, John, D. D. 560 j Twisse,Wm.D.D. Prolocutor 

Marshall, Stephen, B. D 565 \ of the Assembly of Divines, 435 

Maynard, John, A. M 574 j Tyndale, William, 102 

More, John, 267 j Udal, John, 275 

Newcomen, Matthew, A. M. 575 * Vines, Richard, A. M 608 

Nye, Philip, A.M. 576 I Walker, George, B.D 611 

Palmer, Herbert, B.D 580 { Wallis, John, D.D 613 

Parker, Robert, 318 j Whitaker, Jeremiah, A. M.. 618 

Penry, John, A.M 290 j White, John, A.M 455 

Perne, Andrew, A. M 586 *' Whitehead, David, B. D.... 217 

Pickering, Benjamin, 587 $ Whittingham, William, ... 220 

Preston, John, D. D 342 { Wickliff, John, D. D 81 

Puritans, Introduction to the j Wigginton, Giles, 262 

Lives of the, 209 I Wilson, Thomas, 324 

Rainolds, John, D.D 304 \ Wilson, Thomas, A.M 621 

Reyner, William, B.D....... 579 \ Young, Patrick, A.M 386 



Hie following are some of the principal Authorities consulted 
in Writing these Memoirs: 

Moskiem's Ecclesiastical History. 

Haweis' History of the Rise, Declension, and Revival of 

the Church of Christ. 
Gibbon's Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire. 
Hume's History of England. 
Middleton's Biographia Evangelica. 
Strype's Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer. 
New Theological Dictionary. 
The Scotch Episcopal Review and Magazine. 
Fox's Acts and Monuments of the Martyrs. 
Rapin's History of England. 
Clark's Marrow of Ecclesiastical History. 
Kennetf s Historical Register and Chronicle. 
Biographia Britannica. 

Huntley's Breviate of the Prelates' Intolerable Usurpations. 
Fuller's Church History of Britain. 

History of the Worthies of England. 

Lloyd's Memoirs of Excellent Personages. 
Wood's Athense Oxonienses. 
■ Historia et Antiquitates Univer. Oxon. 

Heylin's Life of Archbishop Laud. 

■ History of the Presbyterians. 
. History of the Reformation in England. 

D. Ewes' Journals of Parliaments. 
Whitlock's Memorials of English Affairs. 
Clark's Lives of Eminent Persons. 
Rushworth's Historical Collections. 
Silvester's Life of Baxter. 

Walker's Attempt at the Sufferings of the Clergy. 
Burnet's History of the Reformation. 
Echard's History of England. 
Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials. 
Burnet's History of his own time. 
Ainsworth's Counter Poison. 
Ames' Fresh Suit. 

Paget's Defence of Church Government. 
A brief Discourse of the Troubles at Frankfort. 



AUTHORITIES. 

Baillie's Dissuasive from the Errors of the Time* 

Edward's Gangarena. 

Baillie's Vindication of his Dissuasive. 

Baxter's Second Plea for the Nonconformists. 

Reid's Westminster Divines. 

L'Estrange's Dissenters' Sayings. 

Barlow's Sum of the Conference at Hampton Court. 

Calamy's Account and Continuation. 

Oldmixon's Critical History of England. 

Clarendon and Whitlock Compared. 

Pierce's Vindication of the Dissenters. 
Madox's Vindication of the Church against NeaL 
Neal's Review of do. 

Grey's Examination of Neal. 

Review of Neal. 

Harris' Life of Charles I. 

Toplady's Historic Proof. 

Neal's History of the Puritans. 

Brook's Lives of the Puritans. 

Clarendon's History of the Rebellion. 

Granger's Biographical History of England. 

Calamy's Account of Ejected Divines at the Restoration of 

Charles I. 
Calamy's Abridgment of Baxter's History of his Life and 

Times. 
Aikman's History of Scotland. 
Scots Worthies. 
Cloud of Witnesses. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



OF 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 



SECT. I. 

From the Ascension of Christ, to tJie establishment of Uniformity by 
the Emperor Theodosius. 

The Redeemer of mankind, in commissioning his disci- 
ples to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation, forewarned them 
of the difficulties they had to encounter, and the dangers to 
which a faithful discharge of their duty would unavoidably ex- 
pose them. He tells them, that they would be dragged before 
kings and councils, insulted, imprisoned, persecuted, and hated 
of all men for his name-sake. But in asmuch as the servant 
is not greater than his Lord, nor the disciple than his Mas- 
ter, they had no reason to expect a milder treatment than he 
had received before them; at the same time comforting them 
with the cheering consideration, that he had overcome the 
world, and that the doctrines they were about to proclaim 
would triumph over the united power, influence, and malignity 
of all opposers; and, like the piece of leaven, hid in three mea- 
sures of meal, would gradually ferment, and finally leaven and 
tranquillize the whole lump. How truly the event has corre- 
sponded with even the letter of these predictions, the Acts of 
the Apostles, and the ulterior history of the church; sufficiently 
demonstrate. 

After his ascension, the apostles, agreeable to his instruc- 
tions, remained at Jerusalem, waiting the promise of the Com- 
forter, to guide them into all truth, and qualify them for the la- 
bours to which they were severally appointed. Nor does it ap- 
pear that they entered on their public ministry till penticost, 
when they were endued with power from on high, bv which 

1 B 



X HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

they were enabled to work miracles, and speak in all the lan- 
guages of the surrounding nations. Thus qualified, they so- 
lemnly set about the important work, and publicly preached 
Jesus, and the resurrection, to immense multitudes, both Jews 
and Gentiles, three thousand of whom were converted by 
means of Peter's sermon, to which immense multitudes were 
almost instantaneously added. The astonished inhabitants of 
Jerusalem began to attend their sermons, concerning which the 
public opinion was greatly divided, some believing, and others 
blaspheming. In the meantime, the sanhedrim became alarm- 
ed, the church was considered in danger, and all heads set to 
work, in contriving the means of extinguishing this new-light 
that threatened to expose their avarice and hypocrisy. Here, 
like most of the sapient politicians of after times, their delibera- 
tions terminated in the foolish and inefficient remedy generally 
resorted to on such occasions; namely, to eradicate the opinions 
of mankind by physical coercion. A furious persecution was 
therefore set on foot; the apostles were dragged before the rulers 
of the people. Stephen was stoned to death, and Saul was com- 
missioned to hunt down whoever contravened the orders of the 
sanhedrim, by adhering to these outcast and excommunicated 
contemners of the pharisaical institutions. Hence the church 
was dispersed, and carried their doctrines into every place, whe- 
ther the safety of their lives had induced them to retire. The 
church of Antioch was erected by these means, and every cor- 
ner of the land of promise favoured with the word of life. 
Saul the persecutor, arrested in his mad career of intolerance* 
became at once the fearless advocate of a religion he had in 
vain endeavoured to suppress; and after the most ardent, but 
unsuccessful, endeavours to convince his countrymen that the 
Messiah was indeed come, and that it was in vain for them to 
look for another, he left them with the galling remark, that 
seeing they judged themselves unworthy of eternal life, he had 
determined to direct his labours to a more hopeful harvest. 
" Lo ! we turn," says he, " to the Gentiles, and they will re- 
ceive us." Here his labours were incessant, and his success 
without parallel. Church after church was erected, and the 
kingdoms of this world were beginning to become the king- 
doms of our Lord and his Christ. 

Thus, during the ministrations of the apostles, the church 
shone forth like the morning sun. A blaze of gospel light pene- 
trated the dark recesses of pagan superstition, discovered her 
secret abominations, and the utter worthlessness of her splendid 
ceremonial; desolated her temples, and struck her oracles for 
ever dumb. In vain did priests and rulers interpose their au- 
thority, and exercise their craft, in proping up the tottering edi- 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. XX 

fice. The simplicity and benevolence manifested in the doc- 
trines of the apostles, compared with the impurities and unna- 
tural absurdities of the pagan worship, produced a most asto- 
nishing change in the sentiments of men, withdrew their vene- 
ration from the idolatrous superstitions of their fathers, and 
led them, as willing captives, to swell the triumphs of the cross. 
But clouds soon obscured the horizon of the church, and tem- 
pests ruffled the pleasing serenity of her rising day. 

Thirty-one years had only elapsed from the ascension of 
Christ, when the emperor Nero, that Ke might gratify his ca- 
price or curiosity with the destructive conflagration of his capi- 
tal, set fire to the city of Rome, and in order to exculpate him- 
self, meanly charged the christians with the guilt of this infer- 
nal transaction. Tacitus, the Roman historian, speaking of this 
unparalleled piece of human depravity, says, " That in order to 
divert suspicion from himself, he substituted fictitious crimi- 
nals, and, with this view, he inflicted the most exquisite tor- 
tures on those men vulgarly called christians. They derived 
their name and origin from Christ, who, in the reign of Tibe- 
rius, had suffered death by the sentence of the procurator Pon- 
tius Pilate. For a while this dire superstition was checked, 
but it again burst forth, and not only spread over Judea, the 
first seat of this mischievous sect, but was even introduced into 
Rome, the common asylum, which receives and protects what- 
ever is impure and atrocious. The confession of those who 
were seized, discovered a great multitude of their accomplices, 
and they were all convicted, not so much for the crime of set- 
ting fire to the city, as for their enmity to the human kind. 
They died in torments, and these were imbittered by insult 
and derision. Some were nailed on crosses, others sewed up 
in skins of wild beasts, and exposed to the fury of dogs; others 
again smeared over with combustible materials, were used as 
torches to illuminate the nightly scene of their sufferings. The 
gardens of Nero were destined for this tragical spectacle, which 
was accompanied by a horse race, and honoured with the pre- 
sence of the emperor, who mingled with the populace in the 
dress of a charioteer, driving his chariot in person. But the 
populace commiserated the victims, from the opinion that they 
were sacrificed, not to the rigour of justice, but to the cruelty 
of the jealous tyrant." 

Notwithstanding of this, and numerous other oppressive mea- 
sures adopted against the christians, both by Jews and Romans, 
the doctrines of salvation spread with the rapidity of lightning, 
and in a very short time not only pervaded the vast extent of 
the empire, but darted their exhilirating beams into regions far 
beyond the pale of the Roman jurisdiction. The instruments. 



Xii HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

employed, in this great work, were chiefly ignorant and illiter- 
ate men, little acquainted with the world, less still with the 
fashions of the great, and totally untuttered in the arts of dis- 
simulation and flattery; yet, bold in their Master's cause, they 
pointed the frowning artillery of heaven against the reigning 
vices of the age, and all unrighteousness of life. They had, 
therefore, to contend with the most determined opposition. 
The alarmed priesthood, supported by the power of the state, per- 
secuted them even unto death. The schools of philosophy held 
them up to ridicule, while the rich despised them for their po- 
verty and humble appearance; and, reckoning according to the 
course of this world, they were assuredly the most unlikely men 
on earth, either to command attention, or procure converts to 
their Opinions. Their success must therefore have been effect- 
ed by the mighty power of God, and the irresistible evidence 
attending the preaching of the gospel. 

The form in which the church appeared, in the primitive age ? 
and under the immediate inspection of the apostles, seems to 
merit a little consideration in this place, modern professors 
being so generally divided in sentiment, with regard to govern- 
ment and discipline. A concise view of these things may also 
serve as a standard of comparison, whereby the defections and 
prelatical encroachments of after times may be measured, and 
more distinctly estimated. 

1. It appears from the Acts of the Apostles, as well as from 
various circumstances attending particular churches and teach- 
ers, that the churches, in the primitive ages, were composed of 
small societies; that a room, or apartment, no way conspicuous, 
was generally the place where they assembled for religious ex- 
ercises. Hence we read of their teaching and preaching in 
every house, and of their breaking of bread from house to house, 
Acts ii. 46. v. 24. This seems to describe the nature of the 
churches at Jerusalem, where the immense number of converts 
could not be contained in any one house, nor permitted by the 
exasperated priesthood, had it been practicable. The Gentile 
churches were under the same, if not a greater, necessity of 
confining thermvlves to sequestrate houses and small societies. 

2. As soon as one of these little churches was formed, a man 
of gravity, and becoming age, being the father of a family, will- 
ing to devote himself to their service, and possessing the requi- 
site qualifications, was selected from their own body, and the 
ceremonies of inauguration were merely prayer, and the laying 
on of the hands of the presbytery, consisting of an apostle, or* 
in his absence, one of the travelling evangelists, together witfe 
the presbyters* 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Xlll 

3. Everv church possessed the power of electing their own 
pastors, and of admitting, censuring, or expelling their mem- 
bers, 1 Cor. v. 12. 

4. None had yet claimed a monopoly of power or privilege, 
or suspected that the church, in the next town or village, was not 
equally independent with their own. We are quite mistaken, if 
we consider the apostolic churches similar to those of out time. 
It is evident that the bishops or presbyters of the churches of 
Philippi and Galatia were numerous, and must therefore have 
superintended but small congregations; considering that the 
christians, in these regions, could as yet only constitute a 
small proportion of the population. Besides, Philippi itself 
was not the metropolis of even a small province. Their bishops 
must therefore have been confined to a very limited sphere of 
operations: nor could it be otherwise, if they attended to the 
duties of their respective offices, in examining the catechumen, 
presiding at the love-feasts, and making themselves personally 
acquainted with every individual of their flocks. 

W e will be equally mistaken, if we conceive that the bish- 
ops or presbyters of those primitive times consisted of gentle- 
men trained up for the church. Their teachers were from 
amongst themselves, and though a liberal education was a desir- 
able qualification, it was not considered essentially necessary. 

5. Accusations against offending presbyters were submitted 
to the consideration of some one of the itinerant evangelists, 
who, along with the congregation, regulated all matters of 
church order, and corrected abuses. 

6. The itinerant evangelists had no settled or particular 
charge, but preached from place to place, and were under the 
inspection of one or other of the apostles. They seem to have 
been supported by the church; yet sometimes by the labour of 
their own hands. 

7. That every member of the church had the privilege to 
preach or exhort his brethren, providing he was qualified for 
the undertaking, spoke a known language, and sought the edifi- 
cation of the church. 

8. The stationary presbyters, or bishops, during the lives of 
the apostles, were under the superinten dance of these evange- 
lists, and their saleries consisted in the honours of office. But 
early in the second century, when these great men had finished 
their course, we find that one amongst the ministers, in every 
place, received the name of bishop; and the presbyters, belong- 
ing to the same church, acted with him as one body. 

9. All ecclesiastical office-bearers, from the beginning of 
the church to the end of the third century, were elected by the 
people. 



XIV HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

10. The deacons were instituted to take care of the poor, 
and manage the secular concerns of the church. 

And, lastly, Every member of the primitive church seem 
to have made it their constant practice, to lay aside, weekly, a 
portion of his income, or earnings, according to his ability, and 
the necessities of the poor and persecuted, or the exigencies of 
the church. 

The persecutions mentioned in scripture were principally 
from the Jews. Their rulers, who had crucified the Lord of 
glory, were equally enraged at the preaching of his apostles; 
and though under the yoke of the Romans, whenever the con- 
currence of the governor was necessary, they had, for the most 
part, influence sufficient to engage him to execute their cruel 
decisions. Thus Pilate, contrary to his own convictions of the 
innocence of our Lord, was prevailed upon to sentence him to 
death, and order a band of Roman soldiers to enforce the exe- 
cution of his unmanly decree; and Felix, some time after, 
though fully satisfied that their charge against Paul was ground- 
less, yet, to please their angry rulers, left him in prison and in 
chains. The priesthood, exasperated at the defection of their 
votaries, and the loss of their popularity and character for holi- 
ness, were ready, on all occasions, to wreak their vengeance on 
the disciples of our Lord, whose increasing numbers threatened 
to lay their temple desolate; and whose purity of life eclipsed 
all their hypocritical pretensions to holiness. 

Accordingly, we see that the first attempt to preach, at Jeru- 
salem, the resurrection and ascension of Christ crucified, was 
visited with scourging and insult, with bonds and imprison- 
ment. The spoiling of their goods gratified the avarice of 
their persecutors; but nothing less than their blood could atone 
for their audacity, in telling them disagreeable and severe truths. 
Hence the zealous sermon of Stephen exposed him to a cruel 
and instantaneous death; he stands at the head of the long roll 
of christian martyrs. James followed him soon after, and Pe- 
ter only escaped from their resentment by means of a miracle. 
Other cities, besides Jerusalem, were, in all probability, sub- 
jected to similar persecutions; as is evident from the commis- 
sion with which Saul was invested, when arrested on his way 
to Damascus. 

Prior to the promulgation of Christianity, the Roman govern- 
ment had seldom been engaged in persecution merely for re- 
ligious opinions. On this occasion, however, they neither with- 
held their own hands from violence, nor seriously discounte- 
nanced the tumults and oppressions which Jewish zealots, in- 
terested pagans, and an unruly mob, goaded on by the jealou- 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. XV 

sies of the priesthood, were continually exercising against the 
unoffending disciples of Jesus. From their recorded sufferings 
in the Acts of the Apostles, we may conclude what was 
the case in other places, where similar circumstances would 
naturally rouse the same spirit of enmity, and its bitter con- 
sequences, oppression and persecution against all who had 
the courage and integrity to denounce idolatry or hypocrisy, in 
either Jews or Gentiles; and where weakness and non-resist- 
ance was opposed to the most inveterate enmity, armed with 
power equal to their malice, it is impossible but the consequen- 
ces must have been more generally destructive, and the mar- 
tyrs abundantly more numerous, than any record has pre- 
served. 

The second century of the christian era commenced in per- 
secution and an increasing heresy; yet, notwithstanding of both, 
the church was marching from triumph to triumph ; the divine 
power manifested in the preaching of the word; the simple 
manners and holy lives of its professors; the zeal of its evan- 
gelists, and the blood of its martyrs, struck the world with as- 
tonishment, arrested their serious attention, and was highly in- 
strumental in converting multitudes to the faith of Christ. 
Cities were first evangelized, villages followed in rapid succes- 
sion, and the light of heaven darted its enlivening beams into 
farm houses, cottages, and even the meanest abodes of wretch- 
edness and slavery. 

But the apostles, and their travelling evangelists, having now 
rested from their labours, and the church increasing in every 
place, the desire of being accommodated with stationary pre- 
sidents, seems to have introduced the first alteration in the sys- 
tem of church regulations, and the several churches appear to 
have elected one, respectively, from amongst their own ministers, 
to fill the situation of president, formerly occupied by the evan- 
gelists; and, from this time forward, these same presidents are 
exclusively denominated bishops. Every church, however, 
continued to exercise discipline over its own members, in whicli 
every individual had his voice. Their pastors were held in 
high estimation; but nothing like clerical dominion had yet 
found a place in their churches. But now again the gather- 
ing clouds of persecution loured in the horizon of the church; 
the respite, occasioned by the short reign of Nerva, had passed 
away, the toleration with which he had indulged his subjects 
ceased on the accession of Trajan, whose hatred and enmity 
against Christianity, notwithstanding of his reputed humanity, 
and other good qualities, was constant and unconquerable. His 
own letter, and that of his proconsul, will substantiate what is 



XVI HISTORICAL SKETCH OP 

here stated, and 5 moreover, afford one of the most authentic do- 
cuments, that has reached modern times, regarding the great 
increase of the church, and the determined perseverance of its 
faithful adherents, their holy lives and unoffending manners, 
and the fearfully suffering state of the church, at this period. 

Trajan, who possessed all the prejudices against Christianity, 
which the misrepresentations of its enemies, the contempt of 
philosophers, the craft of priests, and the general odium of all 
pagan idolaters, must have contributed to propagate and con- 
firm, appointed his favourite Pliny proconsul in Bythinia, 
to check the progress of these rapidly advancing opinions. 
Pliny, who had never before been concerned in such investiga- 
tions, found it necessary to apply for some explication of his 
orders; and his own letter to the emperor will best describe 
the state of the church under this humane ruler. 

A. D. 107. — C. Pliny to the Emperor Trajan, wishes health. 
Sire, 

" It is usual with me to consult you in every matter wherein 
I am in doubt, and to submit to your determination; for who, 
better than yourself, can direct me when I hesitate, or instruct 
me where uninformed. Till now, I never had occasion to be 
present at any criminal process against the christians; I am ig- 
norant, therefore, to what extent it is usual to inflict punish- 
ment, or urge prosecution. I have much hesitated, also, whe- 
ther there should not be some distinction made between the 
young and old; and in the application of the torture, whether 
there should not be a difference between the robust and the de- 
licate, whether pardon should not be offered to penitence, or 
whether an openly professing christian shall be allowed to re- 
tract, in order to escape punishment. Whether the profession 
itself is to be regarded as a crime, however innocent, in other 
respects, the professor may be, or whether the crimes, attached 
to the name, must be proved before they suffer. 

" In the interval, my method with the christians, who have 
been impeached as such, has been this: I interrogated them, 
Are you christians ? If they avowed it, I asked the same ques- 
tion a second and third time, threatening them with the pu- 
nishment decreed by the law. If they still persisted, I ordered 
them to be executed on the spot; for whatever their profession 
of religion might be, I had not the least doubt that their per- 
verseness and inflexible obstinacy certainly ought to be pu* 
nished. 

" There were others infected with this madness, who, being 
Roman citizens, I adjudged to be transported to Rome for your 
immediate cognizance. 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. XV11 

" In the discussion of this matter, accusations multiplying, a 
diversity of cases occurred. A schedule of names was sent me, 
by an unknown accuser; but when I cited the persons, many 
denied the fact that they were, or ever had been, christians; 
and repeating after me the usual formula, addressed the gods, 
and offered supplications, with wine and frank-incense, to your 
image, which, with the statues of other deities, I had ordered 
to be produced, adding their maledictions of Christ; to which 
no real christian, I am assured, by any torments, could be com- 
pelled. These, therefore, I thought proper to discharge. 

" Others, named by an informer, at first acknowledged them- 
selves christians, and then denied it, pretending, that though 
they had been s*ich, they had renounced the profession, some for 
three years, others for a longer time, and a few for more than 
twenty. All these adored your image, and the statues of the 
gods, and at the same time called Christ an accursed object. 

" From their affirmations, I learned that the sum of their of- 
fence, call it fault or error, was, that on a day fixed, they used 
to assemble before sunrise, and sing together, in alternate re- 
sponses, hymns to Christ as a deity, binding themselves, by the 
solemn engagement of an oath, not to commit any manner of 
wickedness; to be guilty neither of theft, nor robbery, nor adul- 
trv; never to break a promise, nor keep back a deposit when 
called for. This service being concluded, it was their custom 
to separate, and meet together again for a repast, promiscuous 
indeed, and without any distinction of rank or sexes, but per- 
fectly harmless; and even from this they had desisted, since the 
publication of my edict, forbidding, by your orders, all clubs 
and associations. 

" For farther information, I thought it necessary, in order to 
come at the truth, to put two damsels, who were called deacon- 
esses, to the torture; but I could extort nothing from them, 
but the acknowledgment of a superstition, depraved as immo- 
derate; and therefore, desisting from farther investigation, I 
hasted to consult you; for indeed the matter appeared to me 
deserving of the most attentive consideration, especially in the 
view of the immense numbers of those who are involved in this 
dangerous predicament; for informations are already brought 
against multitudes of all ages, of all orders, and of both sexes; 
and more will be impeached, for the contagion of this supersti- 
tion has not only widely spread over the cities and villages, but 
reached even the farm houses. I am of opinion, however, that 
it may yet be stopped and corrected; for it is evident, that the 
temples, which I found nearly deserted, begin to be frequented; 
and the sacred solemnities, that for a long while had been sus- 
pended, are come again into practice, so that now there is a 

1 c 



Xyill HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

brisk sale of victims for sacrifices, where before there could 
scarcely be found a purchaser. From whence I cannot but con- 
clude, that the bulk of the people may be reclaimed, if impu- 
nity be allowed to repentance." 

As Trajan's answer to the above is calculated to throw addi- 
tional light on this important subject, and enable us, from both, 
to take a very full and distinct view of the state of the church 
at that period, I have therefore subjoined it, 

Trajan to Pliny. 
My Dear Pliny, 
" You have certainly followed the right track in the discus- 
sion of the causes relative to the impeachment of the christians. 
No certain rule can be laid down invariably to be adhered to 
in all cases. They are not to be hunted up by informers, but 
if impeached and convicted, let them be executed; only with this 
restriction, that if any person deny that he is a christian, and 
demonstrate it by offering supplications to our gods, however 
suspicious his conduct may have been before, his penitence 
shall secure his pardon. But unless every information has the 
accuser's name annexed, whatever be the crime charged, it is not 
to be regarded, as it would be a precedent of the worst sort, 
and totally contrary to the maxims of my government." 

From these letters we may gather, that the profession of 
Christianity, under the Roman government at this time, was 
death by the laws of the empire. " I threatened them," says Pli- 
ny, " with the punishment decreed by the law; and if they still 
persisted, I ordered them to be executed on the spot." That 
their own acknowledgment, or the evidence of the fact, or even 
their refusal to worship the pagan deities, or curse the Re- 
deemer of mankind; or either of these, were deemed sufficient to 
procure their immediate execution. That their piety, purity, 
and peaceful demeanour; their happy fellowship one with ano- 
ther, and their innocent and exemplary lives, has the unequi- 
vocal attestation of a host of apostates, from whom a very dif- 
ferent account was expected. That their numbers must have 
been great, the cities, villages, and even the farm houses, were 
almost filled with them; while the pagan temples were literally 
deserted, their solemnities for a long time unattended, and the 
trade in victims almost annihilated. 

The martyrdom of Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, happened 
about this time. When Trajan visited that city, in his ex- 
pedition against the Parthians, in 107, the persecution against 
the christians, as appears from the aforesaid letters, raged with 
unabated fury. Ignatius, who had hitherto been spared, some 
say protected, presented himself to the emperor, as a victim to 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. XIX 

sootli his severity against the christians of that department. 
He was accordingly carried to Rome, and destroyed by wild 
beasts, in the theatre of that luxurious metropolis of the world. 
He has been blamed by some, for rushing, uncalled for, on mar- 
tyrdom; his character, however, appears excellent, and his end 
was glorious. His writings seem to evince the dawnings of 
prelatical supremacy; though his doctrine was evangelical, and 
the church, it appears, had hitherto suffered but little from 
heresy. 

The christians having renounced the motley rabble of pagan 
divinities, were therefore branded with the name of atheists. 
Their nightly meetings were construed in the worst possible 
light; there they were supposed to perform the most horrid mys- 
teries, and, under the cover of darkness, to commit the grossest 
impurities. They were considered the enemies of the human kind, 
monsters, who, puffed up with the superiority of their own super- 
stitions, consigned to eternal torments all who did not embrace 
their faith; that they were unfit for the society of men, morose and 
gloomy, shunning every amusement of the age, public or private, 
and relinquishing all the pleasures of life. Moreover, they were 
considered as enemies to the government, from their repug- 
nance to the army, where the military oath subjected them to 
the idolatrous adoration of the emperor. From these ground- 
less apprehensions, they were persecuted to the death, while 
Jews, and every other sectary, were indulged with toleration. 
The edicts of Trajan against the christians were not repealed; 
and though it be probable, that in many places money might 
purchase a precarious respite, or humanity restrain the rigid 
execution of these decrees; yet, if we consider the extent of 
empire, the immense number of christians scattered over the 
different departments, and, withal, the abhorrent character 
the pagan priesthood had propagated, and their ignorant vota- 
ries believed, concerning them — the martyrdoms, under the 
twenty years of Trajan's reign, must have been great, and, cal- 
culating after the manner of this world, the prospect of the 
church was peculiarly forbidding. But yet a little while, and 
her proud and relentless enemies shall melt away, and the Ro- 
man empire itself bend to the doctrine of the Prince of Peace. 
The edicts of Trajan, and of some preceding emperors, con- 
tinued in full force against the christians even under Adrian; 
nor is it probable that the enmity of their persecutors had much 
abated. The apologies for the christians, addressed to this em- 
peror by Quadratus and Aristides, exhibit the deplorable state 
of suffering and uncertainty under which they groaned at this 
period; and it is probable, that a candid representation of 
their unparalleled misery, by Seranius Geranius, proconsul in 



XX HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

Asia, induced him first to turn his attention to this subject. 
Hence the rescript of Adrian, to his next proconsul Minucius 
Fundanus, states, that idle clamours must not be heard against 
the christians; but if any thing contrary to the laws be proven 
against them, they must take their course. 

The Jews were the first persecutors of the infant church. 
They had always hated the christians, and their malevolence 
never slumbered so long as they possessed even the shadow of 
power; but the fearful vengeance executed on Jerusalem and 
the Jewish nation, afforded a breathing time to the church. 
Incurably prejudiced with the notion, that Messiah should ap- 
pear amongst them in the character of a temporal prince, and 
rescue them from the power of the Romans, they foolishly ral- 
lied round the standard of Barchochebas, to contend with the 
gigantic power of Rome for the empire of Palestine. The 
christians refusing to join the banner of this pretended messiah, 
suffered, during the rebellion, the most cruel indignities, and 
were massacred without mercy, till the destruction and disper- 
sion of these rebels restored them once more to a precarious re- 
pose; while an utter seclusion from Jerusalem, the city of their 
solemnities, terminated the Jewish polity for ever. 

Whatever change, if any, in favour of the christians, the re- 
script of Adrian produced, the manly appeal and apology of Jus- 
tin Martyr, to the emperor Antoninus Pius, refuting the disgust- 
ing charges brought against the christians, and vindicating their 
exemplary lives and peaceable demeanour, seems to establish 
an opinion, that the fury of the persecutors had again been let 
loose against them — Anno 133. 

Some of the Asiatic cities, about this time, suffering under 
the visitation of heaven, the pagan priests persuaded the de- 
luded people, that their afflictions were occasioned by the wrath 
of the gods, for suffering the christian atheists to live amongst 
them. They were, of course, most cruelly sacrificed, to ap- 
pease the anger of their offended deities, till the circumstances 
of the case, having been represented to the emperor, he issued a 
decree, that speaks highly in the christians favour, forbidding 
them to be in any way molested for exercising their religion, 
but that, like other subjects, they should be amenable to the 
laws for crimes against the state. 

His successor, the highly celebrated Marcus Aurelius, 
whose wisdom and virtue has been eulogized in all ages. 
in the pride of his philosophic attainments, with the feelings 
of a savage, let loose his blood-thirsty assassins to massacre 
and destroy his unoffending christian subjects, who became the 
victims of popular fury. It was in vain that Justin Martyr, 
Athenagoras, Tatian, and Melito, apologised and remonstrated 



THE CHEISTIAN CHURCH. XXi 

with this sapient ruler, who, with the credulity of a child, lis- 
tened to the malevolent invectives of his pagan priests and in- 
fidel sophists, lending a deaf ear to the groans of a butchered 
population. Amongst the immense numbers, who perished un- 
der this bloody reign, were Polycarp, Justin Martyr, and seve- 
ral other conspicuous characters. 

Commodus appears to be in every respect the reverse 
of Aurelius, an epicure, and abandoned to every species of 
vice; but Marcia, his favourite concubine, and possessed of 
great influence, either from pity for the sufferings, or respect 
for the opinions, of the christians, exerted it in their behalf; 
which afforded them a considerable relaxation from the severi- 
ties of the former reign. 

During the short reigns of Pertinax and Julian, the demon of 
persecution slumbered; and, notwithstanding that Severus, who 
succeeded to the empire, had passed a decree, prohibiting all his 
subjects from renouncing the pagan religion for that of either 
the Jewish or christian, it was the tenth year of his reign before 
the fire of his lingering vengeance burst into a flame. Whatever 
might have induced him to forsake his former system of mode- 
ration, it is certain that the consequences were terrible to the 
christians in general, and particularly to the African churches, 
where great multitudes, both men and women, were dragged 
from their friends and peaceable habitations, to be immured in 
dungeons, tortured, and put to death. The cities of Alexandria, 
Scillita, and Carthage, received a heavy proportion of this 
sweeping destruction. The famous Origen, though only a youth, 
narrowly escaped. His father suffered death ; and the much-la- 
mented Perpetua and Felicitas augmented the roll of martyrs. 
Perpetua had a child at the breast, and Felicitas was but newly 
delivered, when these beautiful and delicate females, mothers 
of infant children, who had already suffered much in prison, 
were dragged from their dungeons, and, in presence of an insult- 
ing mob, exposed to the fury of a wild cow, by whom their bodies 
were mangled and gored in a manner not to be described, and 
afterwards, with some remaining symptoms of life, removed to 
a conspicuous place, where the infernal tragedy was consummat- 
ed, by hacking them to pieces with the sword. 

Lyons was about the same time deluged with the blood of 
the saints; and here Irenaeus is said to have received his crown 
of martyrdom. Numbers, at this period, are charged with 
having purchased the connivance of the government, and saved 
their lives with the loss of their property; while others appear- 
ed emulous of the honours of martyrdom, by rushing on dan- 
gers which they might have innocently avoided. The death of 
Severus at last paved the way for Caracalla, one of the most 



XX11 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

infamous characters, whose atrocious vices have seldom been 
exceeded, but whose early attachment to a christian nurse had 
so prejudiced him in their favour, that during his whole reign 
the church enjoyed a full and unmolested toleration. Even 
the brutish Heliogabalus could find no leisure, from the indul- 
gence of his favourite vices, to concern himself about their affairs; 
so that the toleration was not interrupted during his reign. That 
of Alexander Sever us was equally favourable to the church. In- 
fluenced by his mother Julia, who, it seems, had been friendly 
to the christians, he so far discountenanced their enemies, as to 
account the Saviour worthy of a statue amongst the demi-gods 
and heroes. Still, however, the penal laws against them remain- 
ed unrepealed, and capricious or malignant magistrates had it 
in their power, at all times, even during the most peaceable 
reigns, to molest them with impunity. 

Maximin, who murdered Severus, fearing the resentment of 
the christians, whom he had so constantly befriended, directed 
his fury against their bishops and presbyters, in a cruel and vin- 
dictive decree, which obliquely involved many private individu- 
als; but his death delivered the world from his political tyranny, 
and the christians from his persecuting rage. The short reigns 
of Pupienus and Balbinus, succeeded by Gordian and Philip, 
the last of whom was accounted half a christian, procured a re- 
spite for the persecuted church, which continued till the acces- 
sion of Decias, about the middle of the century, when the 
sword of persecution was again drawn, and legions of hungry 
assassins enrolled for the execution of this infernal service. 
The reign of this man-tyger was short, but from whatever cause 
his inveterate malice proceeded, the church had never before 
experienced any thing equally severe. His orders, to all his 
praetors and magistrates, went to the extirpation of the chris- 
tian name. The edict was enforced with diabolical rigour, and 
though multitudes braved his power and malignity, yet great 
numbers weakly shrunk from their stedfastness, and introduced 
much contention and clamour relative to their re-admission into 
the church, which many of them earnestly requested. Gallus 
and Volusianus trode in the path of their bloody predecessor, 
though not with all the rancour and inveteracy that he had 
manifested. The commencement of Valerian's reign wore a 
more pleasing aspect. He extinguished the flames that had burnt 
with so much violence in the former reigns, and had excited 
considerable expectation among the suffering christians, till, in- 
fluenced by a pagan bigot, Macrianus, his principal minister of 
state, when fresh edicts were emitted against the assemblies of 
the saints, and their principal men driven into exile, and great 
numbers put to death with the most lingering and unrelenting 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. XX111 

cruelty. But falling into the hands of his enemies, his son 
Gallienus, and his successor Claudius, less malicious, or more 
engaged in business, suffered the church to enjoy a short repose; 
and the meditated destruction of the christian name was happi- 
ly prevented by the death of Aurelian, who had already com- 
menced persecutor. Tacitus, his successor, soon made way for 
Probus, Carus and his sons followed him; and Dioclesian, for 
the first eighteen years of his reign, permitted the tranquillity, 
which for forty years had, with few interruptions, been enjoyed 
by the church. 

But this uncommonly long period of tranquillity, though it 
had greatly extended the boundaries of the church, and the pro- 
fession of Christianity, it had also introduced an itching after 
power and pre-eminence amongst the bishops. The simplicity of 
the gospel was gradually giving way to pomp and splendour, 
and the introduction of the Platonic philosophy, and its adul- 
terating mixture with the pure maxims of Christianity, produc- 
ed heresies of the most fatal description, which, of course, 
called up clamour and endless contentions; and councils, nu- 
merous indeed, but inefficient for their condemnation, though 
highly favourable to the clerical pretensions for power. Yet, 
amidst all these deplorable symptoms of defection, the struggle 
betwixt Christianity and paganism had never been more deter- 
mined, nor the martyrs more numerous, than towards the mid- 
dle of this the third century. Terrified at the inroads made on 
their establishment, the pagan priests moved heaven and earth 
to arrest the swelling current of defection, and recover their 
apostatized votaries. The various sects of philosophy, though 
despising the theology of their country, on this pressing occa- 
sion united their efforts with the priests, and exhausted their 
stock of argument and ridicule against the disciples of the de- 
spised and crucified Redeemer. The inveterate Jews, at the 
same time, lost no opportunity of venting their malice; while 
the praetors and magistrates enforced the edicts of the cruel 
emperors, many of them with evident marks of personal and 
vindictive animosity. 

The fourth century was introduced with the serenity of a 
summer morning, and Dioclesian's moderation promised the 
continuance of a peaceful day; for it was not till the nineteenth 
year of this emperor that the rage of persecution broke out in 
all its terror and malignity. Dioclesian, though professing pa- 
ganism, had for a long time been indifferent to all religions; but 
Galerius, his elected successor, who had imbibed the most in- 
veterate aversion, and implacable hatred, against the christian 
faith and its professors, breathed nothing but fire and slaugh- 



XXIV HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

ter. He used all his influence with the aged emperor, to extir- 
pate the christians, to blot out their very remembrance, and re- 
vive the faded glory of the pagan idolatry. Dioclesian, it is 
said, reluctantly assented to these diabolical measures. In 
planning the execution of these bloody transactions, the great 
church of Nicomedia was destined for a prelude to the sweep- 
ing desolations that Galerius had contemplated. 

The first .edict enjoined the suppression of christian worship, 
and the seizure and consignment to the flames of all their sa- 
cred books. Many eluded the edict by concealing the sacred 
treasure; some delivered them up, and were therefore branded 
with the name of traitors. The church of Nicomedia was level- 
ed with the ground, and other sacred edifices having shared 
the same fate, a second edict Was issued, declaring all christi- 
ans ineligible to preferment, honours, or emoluments, either 
in the state or the army. But these measures, not sufficiently 
gratifying the sanguinary spirit of Galerius, he caused the pa- 
lace of Dioclesian to be set on fire, and charged the christians 
with being the perpetrators, with the design to destroy both the 
emperor and his adopted successor at the same time. The cre- 
dulous Dioclesian believed all this, and in his wrath made the 
streets of Nicomedia to flow with christian blood, and even 
compelled his own wife and daughter, who were suspected to 
be favourable to the christians, to clear themselves, by sacrific- 
ing to the pagan gods. The eunuchs of the court, and officers 
of the army, were amongst the first victims. The bishops and 
principal presbyters were dragged to prison, and urged, by the 
most excruciating tortures, to sacrifice; presuming that their 
example would effectually influence their flocks. Some pur- 
chased their lives with their apostacy, while many endured all 
the severity of torture, and bravely confronted the terrors of 
death, rather than deny their Lord and Master; besides vast 
numbers who were buried alive in the mines, to expire in the 
damp of these dungeons, pressed down with bondage, poverty, 
and toil. 

But the unbending spirit of the confessors and martyrs con- 
founded their enemies, and greatly disappointed the exasperat- 
ed Galerius; which brought forth another edict, commanding the 
magistrates to use every mean, either by cunning or cruelty, to 
make the christians apostatise; or, in case of non-compliance, 
to destroy, without distinction of age, sex, or situation, all who 
should withstand his sanguinary decree. In consequence of 
which, the magistrates vied with one another who should best 
execute the imperial mandate. Humanity shudders at the 
dreadful detail, and turns away, afflicted and in tears, from the 
agonizing groans of the tortured, and the convulsions of expir- 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. XXV 

ing innocence. Promiscuous slaughter now clyecl the fields, 
the city was given up to fire and sword, and no alternative left, 
but either to sacrifice or suffer. During this dreadful persecu- 
tion, which lasted ten years, houses, filled with christians, were 
set on fire, and whole droves, tied together with cords, were 
thrown into the sea. It is related, that in the province of 
Egypt alone, 144,000 christians expired under the hands of their 
persecutors, and that 700,000 died by the hunger and fatigue 
attending their banishment, or in the public works, to which, 
after being mangled and wounded, vast numbers were doomed 
to perish under the weight of unsuppor table toil. Thus, through 
the eastern, and part of the western empire, the name of Christ 
was to be for ever hurled into oblivion. 

An. 305. — Galerius, whose ambition was equal to his cruelty, 
having now completed his arrangements for seizing the empire, 
compelled Dioclesian and Maxemian to resign their dignity ; and 
waited with anxiety for the death of Chlorus, then in Britain, 
from whose bad state of health he expected soon to become 
master of both empires. 

Constantius Chlorus, conscious of his approaching dissolution, 
solicited Galerius to send him his son Constantine, who had 
been retained as an hostage at court. The request was rejected, 
but Constantine, aware of his perilous situation, had the ad- 
dress to make his escape; and, to prevent his being overtaken, is 
said to have killed all the post horses on his line of retreat. 
His arrival at York Was scarcely announced, when his father 
breathed his last, and the army, without waiting to consult 
Galerius, immediately proclaimed him emperor of the West in 
place of his father. Galerius, indignant at an event so unpro- 
pitious, and, withal, so unexpected, suppressed for a time the 
vengeance he meditated, and, though with reluctance, con- 
firmed the purple to Constantine, from whom he expected, in a~ 
short time, to take it by force. In the mean time, Galerius and 
Maxentius, who succeeded Maxemian in Italy, weakened their 
power by a quarrel; of which Constantine taking advantage, 
attacked Maxentius, defeated him, and seized the imperial 
capital; and Galerius, soon after, perished by a disease, tor- 
menting as the pangs he had inflicted on his innocent subjects. 

Constantine, who, with his father, had always favoured the 
christians, now appeared their avowed protector, and the world 
at last saw the strong arm of cruelty broken, and the banners 
of the cross erected in peace. Maximin, the successor of Ga- 
lerius, soon fell by the sword of his colleague Lucinius, who 
shortly after resigned the purple to Constantine; and thus he 
became the undisturbed possessor of the whole Roman empire, 
east and west. 

1 o 



XXVI HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

Jesus Christ, that he might impress the minds of his disci- 
ples with the utter insignificance of splendid temples and gau- 
dy decorations in the worship of God, tells them, that as God 
is a spirit, he must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. That 
the time was approaching, when men, without regarding either 
Jerusalem, Samaria, or any other particular place or temple, 
would every where worship the Father. Accordingly, we find 
that the Apostles erected the New Testament church on this 
pattern of unshowing simplicity, and that, during the first, and 
great part of the second century, christian worship was per- 
formed, in almost all places, according to the apostolic rule. 
No consecrated churches or clerical costume. No liturgy, in- 
terlarded with useless ceremonies; lior images, or other splen- 
did decorations, disfigured their places of worship, or affronted 
the virgin modesty of truth; but common men, in common 
attire, prayed without a prompt book, and instructed their bre- 
thren without using the enticing words of man's wisdom. Men 
of science and philosophical research had hitherto kept aloof 
from these children of simplicity; astonished at their folly, in 
exposing themselves to all the perils of persecution, for the sake 
of a religion, in which they beheld no beauty or comeliness why 
it should be desired. 

But matters unfortunately took a very different direction. 
Some individuals, versed in all the wisdom of the philosophic 
schools, having found their way into the ministry of the church, 
and affecting to be wise above what is written, began to intro- 
duce the reveries of Plato, and others of the pagan philosophers. 
These men, in attempting to reconcile, mix, and amalgamate 
their metaphysical subtleties with the simple truths taught by 
Christ and his apostles, wrought up these heterogeneous materi- 
als into a system of the most extravagant and ridiculous de- 
scription. From this unhallowed mixture proceeded almost all 
the heresies, superstitions, tyrannical encroachments, and con- 
sequent wranglings, that for ages debased the church, and 
brutalized the christian world. 

The noble, the wise, or the wealthy, have never been nume- 
rous in the ranks of Christianity. While the church remained 
in the furnace of affliction and persecution, it was not to be ex- 
pected they should; but now, that the most plausible tenets of 
the pagan mythology had been christianized, and disseminated 
by such popular preachers as Justin, Origen, Tertullian, and 
Pantaenus; it is not to be wondered that their disputations and 
numerous writings should draw numbers aside from the simpli- 
city of the gospel. Their learned definitions, of invisible and 
undefinable objects, betrayed their own ignorance, and, at the 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. XXV11 

same time, opened a wide door for wrangling and contention, 
concerning the nature of God, the mode of his subsistence, the 
person of Christ, the soul of man, and his future state of exist- 
ence; which, in the end, brought forth Arianism, with all its 
various degrees and modifications. 

This mongrel system of Christianity was still pregnant with 
other evils. Affecting to be more spiritual than other christians, 
and farther removed from all the gross enjoyments of sense, by 
absorption in God, the supreme good, these visionaries pre- 
sumptuously held forth, that man, by the mere dint of his intel- 
lectual powers, can raise the soul to immaculate purity and perfec- 
tion, even in this life. That the means, for effecting this desir- 
able end, are contemplation, mortifications of the body, celeba- 
cy, and retirement from the world and its temptations. From 
these visionary doctrines sprang up, in the church, a luxuriant 
crop of mystics and monks, hermits and recluses, who, in after 
ages, like a cloud of locusts, overspread the christian world; 
which they shamefully abused by their hypocrisy, lust, and 
indolence. 

At the same time that errors were thus threatening the 
church, a strong propensity for power and pre-eminency mani- 
fested itself amongst her leading bishops and presbyters. The 
increasing numbers of her converts rendered it necessary, that 
household churches should give place to houses of larger dimen- 
sion, and more convenient accommodation. Towns and villa- 
ges, contiguous to one another, became necessarily connected, and 
the primitive equality of the bishops gave place to a permanent 
president for these united churches. An individual pastor was no 
longer adequate to the service of the church; this circumstance 
rendered assistants indispensable ; accordingly, deacons, origi- 
nally devoted to the concerns of the poor, and other secularities 
of the church, were now employed in some inferior parts of the 
ministerial service. 

Churches, thus associated, began to settle important matters 
of common concern, by assemblies, consisting of delegated 
members from the several churches; the bishop always being 
one. These delegate meetings, in process of time, assumed the 
power and authority of the churches they represented. Still 
the church was extending her wings, and bishops were become 
numerous, and naturally enough uniting in one great federal re- 
public, of which they had already monopolized the directing 
power, the people gradually sunk to insignificance, and lost 
their voice and influence in the management of the church. 
Provincial assemblies of bishops became necessary, and likewise 
required a president; for which they modestly appointed one, 
with the title of archbishop; while capital towns, or very ex- 



XXV111 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

tensive sees, were gratified, under these new arrangements, with 
the venerable name of a patriarchal superintendant. At last, 
when the church became incorporated with the state, these as- 
piring gentlemen, tickled with the pageantry of imperial power, 
could not be satisfied without a supreme, visible, and universal 
Head; though much intrigue and manoeuvering was found ne- 
cessary before this crowning object of their ambition was ef- 
fected. 

' During the third century, the course of defection advanced 
apace. Marriage was still permitted, and generally used by the 
bishops; but celebacy was daily acquiring additional reputation; 
while monkery peopled the desarts, and superstition kept pace 
with these unnatural fancies. The sacraments were now ge- 
nerally supposed to be necessarily accompanied with divine 
grace, and their administration essentially necessary to the sak 
vation even of infants. 

Before admission to baptism, an exorcist must now be em- 
ployed, to unhouse and expel the prince of darkness from the 
candidate. He makes his appearance, and, with the most dread- 
ful threatenings, commands the malignant spirit to depart; 
and the remission of his sins was believed to be the certain and 
immediate consequence of his baptism, if rightly administered 
by the bishop or his deputy. The annual period for baptism 
was from easter to the fortieth day following, when a solemn 
procession, of all those who had been exorcised and baptized, ar- 
rayed in white garments, with crowns, denoting their triumph 
over the devil, closed this august ceremonial. 

The platonic doctrine of demons, generally taught and believ- 
ed at this period, had brought forward all the absurdities of 
spells, exorcisms, and bodily macerations; which last was be^- 
lieved to be of never-failing efficacy in repelling the fiery darts 
of the devil, who was understood to be much less mischievous 
to the hungry, lank, and meagre, than to belly-crammed epicu- 
reans, who placed supreme happiness in the gratification of the 
senses. Prayers, in imitation of the Jews, were now made thrice 
a-day; and in their fasts, which had acquired singular estima- 
tion, their habit was to kneel, or prostrate themselves on the 
ground, during prayer; on which occasions forms were now 
pretty generally used. In holy days, however, they were ac- 
customed to stand up; but no generally established ritual, as 
yet, prevented any man from expressing the sensations of his 
heart in extempore effusions. And notwithstanding of many of- 
fences, and unpromising symptoms, the church was rising to 
universal empire. With all the errors she had embraced, and all 
the defections attending her progress, the system, both in prin- 
ciple and practice, was so obviously superior to paganism, that 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. XXIX 

the folly and falsehood of the established idolatry was easily de- 
monstrated, and contempt began to be poured on the motley 
rabble of pagan divinities, the former objects of popular de- 
votion. 

But Christianity, thus presenting herself -in the garb of Pla- 
tonism, lost some of its most forbidding features, at least in the 
eyes of the rationalists, by which they were induced more easily 
to abandon gods that they never had believed in, and a religion 
that neither interest or inclination prompted them to support. 
In this way, multitudes of the wiser pagans became nominal 
professors of Christianity. In vain had the most celebrated de- 
fenders of the pagan idolatry united their efforts in her favour, 
and whetted their weapons of argument or irony in her defence. 
The more they wrote, the christian apologists triumphed the 
more: and numbers of the superior classes joined the church, 
now that her days of mourning were apparently over, and the 
honours and offices of the state no longer denied to her mem- 
bers. The churches, no longer able to contain the vast crowds 
that now professed the faith of Christ, were everywhere en- 
larged, while the pagan altars were abandoned to their priests, 
who, with watchful anxiety? waited, in trembling suspense," to 
weep over her irretrievable overthrow. This must have been 
a period of unspeakable joy to all the sincere worshippers of 
God the Saviour, who, according to his promise, had made 
them more than conquerors; and, by means the most apparent- 
ly inefficient, had delivered them from the power and inveterate 
malice of their adversaries, that they might serve him without 
fear. 

In tracing the church of Christ through ten destructive per- 
secutions, we have seen her numbers increasing in proportion 
to the severities exercised, and the indignities heaped upon her 
long-suffering, passive, and unoffending members. We have 
seen the pagan superstition melted down by the influence of 
her doctrines, and the most extensive and powerful empire the 
world had ever beheld, revolutionized by her numerical impor- 
tance, and reformed by her captivating manners. It is painful, 
therefore, to contemplate the growing heresies, and unmanly su- 
perstitions, introduced with the obvious design of promoting 
corruption, and covering the encroachments of power, and the 
scramble for supremacy, amongst her hypocritical and ambitious 
ecclesiastics. Many woes are already past, but a host, more 
inimical to the peace of society, and infinitely more disgraceful 
to the christian character, a?*e yet in reserve for the trial of her 
faith and patience. 

The circumstances under which Constantine mounted the 
imperial throne, required all his art and ingenuity to strengthen 



XXX HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

his own party, and weaken that of his enemy. His friendship, 
therefore, to the long persecuted, hut numerous and still in- 
creasing members of the christian church, leaving religion en- 
tirely out of the question, was merely a stroke of sagacious poli- 
cy. He knew from what small beginnings they had increased, in 
the face of every discouraging circumstance, to a multitude, so 
highly respectable, both for numerical strength and determined 
principle and resolution, that if he neglected to avail himself of 
the aid such a formidable body was calculated to afford him in 
the important struggle wherein he was engaged, his antagonist 
would, in all probability, disappoint him of the opportunity. 
Considered in this point of view, the emperor was as much in- 
debted to the christians for their support, as they to him for 
his protection. 

That he was a sincere convert to their opinions, we have but 
doubtful evidence. He does not indeed evince all that incura- 
ble bigotry and intolerance that stained, with innocent blood, 
the tyrannical reigns of a number of his persecuting predeces- 
sors. He tolerated the christian worship, and, for some time 
at least, he also tolerated that of the pagans and the Jews. His 
triumph over Maxentius was principally effected by the efforts 
of the christians, and his gratitude has been manifested in the 
churches he built for their accommodation, and the honours he 
heaped on their bishops; but to all this, he was bound by every 
principle either of honour or interest. 

His last antagonist, Lucinius, enraged at the loss of such an 
overwhelming body, and especially to find them thrown be- 
tween him and the grand object of his ambition, persecuted 
and destroyed them wherever his power was predominant; and 
his late attachment to the pagans, whose priests he courted with 
liberal promises, and more substantial favours, only shows the 
regret he felt for not having anticipated the wiser policy of his 
rival. 

The death of Lucinius having left him no competitor for the 
imperial crown, Constantine shut up the pagan temples, or con- 
verted them to places of christian worship. He prohibited the 
pagan sacrifices, and throughout his whole dominions, establish- 
ed the christian religion ; yet candour, and even charity, must 
pause before they pronounce him either a true christian or a 
good man. He reached the summit of his ambition through 
scenes of carnage; and, in order to clear the way more effectu- 
ally, and secure to himself the darling acquisition, he murdered 
his nearest relations; and his old age, though possessed of all 
the advantages arising from long experience, was more tyranni- 
cally cruel and oppressive than any part of his former reign. 
In short, the whole tenor of his life leaves posterity in doubt, 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. XXXI 

whether the part acted by him, and his son Constantius, did not 
more mischievously injure the cause of true and genuine Chris- 
tianity, than all the rage of the ten preceding persecutions. 

About the year 320, the bitter fruits of the Platonic doc- 
trines began to make their appearance in the church. Arius, 
a presbyter of Alexandria, and a disciple of Origen's, a man 
of science, of grave deportment, an acute reasoner, and withal 
of irreproachable morals, having held forth in his sermons and 
writings, that Christ was not from eternity, that he had no ex- 
istence till the period when he was begotten; that, consequently, 
he had a beginning, and was inferior to the Father. 

The novelty of these sentiments attracted the particular no- 
tice of the Alexandrian school, whose learned definitions and 
distinctions, in discussing these intricate questions, had the 
effect of spreading the Arian heresy through every corner of 
the empire, and producing such a spirit of contention and bit- 
ter animosity between the abetters of these new doctrines and 
the orthodox christians, as involved the church in a most cruel 
and disgraceful persecution, which, with a few casual intermis- 
sions, lasted for ages. Arius was cited before the council of 
Alexandria, and excommunicated for his heretical tenets; and 
afterwards, in 325, at a council held at Nicomedia, where the 
great Constantine presided in person, he was again condemned, 
and the Nicene creed adopted and confirmed, with a decree of 
banishment for all who would not conform to its doctrines, and 
afix their names to its contents. Arius was deposed, and all his 
friends and adherents, to save their bishoprics, subscribed the 
articles, with only the exception of two individuals. 

After the death of Helena, the mother of Constantine, his 
sister Constantia having great influence over him, and being 
warmly attached to the Arian party, had his condemnation re- 
versed; and although the Nicene creed remained unrepealed, 
Athanasius and the trinitarians found the court party, with the 
emperor at their back, sufficiently powerful to turn the current 
of persecution against their party. They refused, however, to re- 
ceive into their communion those followers of Arius, notwith- 
standing that they had subscribed the Nicene creed, seeing they 
utterly rejected the Nicene doctrine of the trinity. The deter- 
mined opposition maintained by Athanasius, at the head of 
the trinitarians, drew upon him and his party the wrath of the 
emperor and his Arian court, who employed all their influence, 
and practised the meanest frauds and impositions, if, by any 
means, they might ruin the reputation, and, by calumny, silence 
the arguments, of a man, whose doctrines they found resting on 
a foundation, against which their united malice and ingenuity 
had been directed in vain. They could turn him out of his 



XXXil HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

see; to drive him out of his faith and firmness, surpassed their 
power; still he returned to the charge with renovated vigour 
and unshaken confidence. Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, a 
man who is said to have stuck at no fraud, and was ashamed 
of no villany, having possession of the ear of the emperor, had 
succeeded in procuring the banishment of this inflexible pillar 
of the orthodox church. He was accordingly sent an exile into 
Germany, and Arius returned in triumph to Alexandria, where 
his activity soon embroiled the Egyptians in the most furious 
contentions. The fear of more mischievous consequences, how- 
ever, induced the emperor to summon him to court. Having 
reached the metropolis, Arius continued to manifest the same 
spirit; and similar disorders, to those he had introduced into 
Egypt, were the immediate consequence; but, in the middle of 
all this enthusiastic and turbulent activity, he was called to his 
account, and left his tenets, and zeal in defending them, an un- 
happy legacy, not only to his friends and abetters, now bask- 
ing in the beams of imperial favour, but also to the church in 
general. 

No heresy had, at any time, proved so fatal to the true reli- 
gion; none had taken such an extensive range, or struck its 
baneful roots so deep in the soil of the christian church. From 
this noxious root has sprung up almost all the theological errors 
that have marred the peace and prosperity of religion in every 
age, and its poisoning influence has been felt in every depart- 
ment of the christian world. 

The church, at this period of her history, was apparently ex- 
alted to the highest pinnacle of prosperity. Invested with vast 
authority, her clergy, arranged in their various degrees of supe- 
riority, held synods and counsels v/ith almost sovereign power. 
Their churches vied in magnificence with the imperial palace ; 
their robes, and the pomp of their service, with mitres, tiaras, 
tapers, crosiers, and gaudy processions, utterly eclipsed the splen- 
dour of the pagan worship; but all was deception, a painted sepul- 
chre, outwardly fair, but internally overcharged with the rotten- 
ness and putridity of dead men's bones. Pride, luxury, and lasci- 
viousness, covetousness, and contention, preyed on her vitals; 
while every species of wickedness and immorality deluged her ex- 
tensive boundaries. The people had gradually sunk into insigni- 
ficance, and nearly to annihilation; their voice was no longer 
heard, nor their consent considered necessary. Even the pres- 
byters bowed to this episcopal sovereignty, and quietly acquiesced 
in the imperial appointments. The prelatical government, in 
imitation of the state, was now divided into great prefectures, 
of which Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople, 
claimed superiority; whilst a descending series, from patriarchs 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. XXX1I1 

to metropolitans, archbishops, bishops, &c. was established, 
some with greater, and others with less extensive jurisdiction. 
Thus every one was seen grasping at all he could catch as an 
individual, and all uniting together in support of the most des- 
potic pretensions of episcopal authority, over a church, whose 
emoluments they had the shameless effrontery to claim as their 
divine and unalienable right. 

The theoretical opinions of Plato, in addition to the numer- 
ous evils they had already produced in the church, brought 
forward, about this time, the first idea of a purificatory pro- 
cess, through which departed spirits were to pass in their pro- 
gress towards perfection. The martyrs had also risen to aston- 
ishing veneration. Their tombs and relics were supposed to 
possess such singular sanctity, as to afford protection from the 
power and malignity of evil spirits. A desire to render Chris- 
tianity more palatable, led to the adoption of pagan ceremonies, 
by placing saints and martyrs in the room of their exploded 
deities; and the Gentile converts were now indulged in all the 
sports, amusements, and bacchanalian revels, with which the 
pagan festivals had formerly been attended; as may be seen in 
the decrees of Thaumaturgus. The visitation of the tombs led 
to distant pilgrimages, where famous men had lived and ex- 
pired, especially to the Holy Land, as it was now denominated, 
where Christ and his Apostles had sojourned. The distance 
and difficulties attending these holy peregrinations enhanced 
the merit of the undertaking, and rendered these kind visita- 
tions wonderfully fashionable. The very dust of the tombs was 
esteemed a precious acquisition; while a tooth or a bone was 
accounted an invaluable treasure. With these, and similar fool- 
eries, did this organized junto of pious jugglers, amuse, deceive, 
and enslave the christian world; superceding, at the same time, 
every thing like evangelical or vital religion. Prodigies, mira- 
cles, visions, and conflicts with the devil, were pretended, with 
a design to multiply the objects of devotion, to increase the 
veneration of the people for the office, and replenish the pockets 
of the clergy. Such was the real and apparent state of the 
great body of the christian church, towards the end of the 
fostering reign of the first christian emperor Con stan tine the 
Great. 

On the death of Constantine, the empire was divided amongst 
his three sons. Constantine the II. had for his share, Britain, 
Gaul, and Spain; Constans had Illyricum, Africa, and Italy; 
while Constantius possessed the east, with Constantinople, the 
new metropolis, which had been erected by his father. Con- 
stantine soon fell by the sword of his brother Constans, in a 
quarrel of ambition, who seized on his dominions; but soon 

2 E 



XXXIV HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

after fell by the hand of Magnentius, who aspired to empire, 
and contended with the remaining brother for universal domi- 
nion; but failing in his purpose, destroyed himself in a fit of 
rage and despair, leaving Constantius in full and undisturbed 
possession of his father's dominions. 

Constantius seems to have embraced the religion of his father, 
and, like him, yielded to the influence of the two Arian Euse- 
biuses, and his sister Constantia. The imperial court was, of 
course, the abettors and supporting pillars of the Arian heresy, 
which naturally became the fashionable religion. The party, 
thus uppermost, availing themselves of their situation, urged 
the perverted emperor to acts of violence against the patrons of 
the Nicene creed, who resolutely rejected all communion with 
Arius or his espousers. Synods and councils were now multi- 
plied for settling the disorders of the church, which had al- 
ready assumed a dangerous aspect. The Arians, with the sup- 
port afforded them by the emperor, were usually victorious in 
these partial assemblies. 

The old and orthodox patriarch of Constantinople, having 
recommended a successor, who was afterwards chosen by 
the people and presbyters to fill that see; but being inimical to 
the Arian and court religion, he was deposed by the orders of 
Constantius, who placed Eusebius of Nicomedia in his stead, 
and arrogated to himself the sole power of appointing all the 
superior officers in the church. 

Such tyrannical proceedings could not fail to excite the most 
violent sensations in the christian world; and the zeal of the 
trinitarians, in defence of their opinions and their natural rights, 
to give them publicity, induced them to make a resolute stand 
against the encroachments of their opponents, perhaps, too, 
with a violence ill becoming the cause they had determined to 
defend; though, to do both parties justice, the Arian mode of 
warfare seems still more reprehensible. Accordingly, an hun- 
dred bishops, with the famous and inflexible Athanasius at their 
head, protested against the unwarrantable deposition of Paul, 
and the disgraceful election of Eusebius. But all that the party 
gained by this bold manoeuvre, was the wrath of the enraged 
emperor, the calling together another synod, and the deposition 
of their revered champion. To effect this, the influence of 
Athanasius in Alexandria and Egypt being so powerful and ex- 
tensive, an armed force became indispensable; but after a vio- 
lent struggle, and many acts of cruelty, Athanasius, alarmed 
for his safety, retired to Rome, as yet the uncorrupted seat of 
orthodoxy. ]Jnder the protection of Constans, emperor of the 
west, for Magnentius had not yet overturned his throne, being 
a professed adherer to the Nicene creed, Athanasius rested some- 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. XXXV 

time in exile; and, before a council held at Rome, vindicated 
his conduct against the malevolent charges brought against him 
by his Arian antagonists. 

Finding that matters were proceeding from evil to worse, the 
two emperors agreed to hold a general council at Sardica; in 
which discord prevailing, the parties separated with additional 
and irreconcilable animosity. The eastern church was general- 
ly affected with Arianism, and both parties were nearly equal 
adepts in framing their anathemas; but the affectionate regard 
the Egyptians had for their exiled patriarch, compelled the em- 
peror to invite his return to the functions of his see, now va- 
cant by the death of Gregory. He returned, and on his way 
was met by Constantius, and graciously received. His entrance 
into Alexandria was a day of triumph and exultation to the 
trinitarians; and numbers manifested the ardency of their feel- 
ings, on the occasion, by devoting themselves to a monastic life; 
an evil now making rapid advances, and countenanced by many, 
who never anticipated the mischief it was calculated to pro- 
duce. 

In consequence of the death of Magnentius, and the failure 
of his ambitious enterprise, the power of Constantius became 
universal; and his Arian advisers, galled at the unremitting 
assiduity of the aged patriarch, renewed their efforts to silence 
or destroy him. For this purpose, they had influence enough 
with the emperor to obtain another council, which was held at 
Milan; where, although the menaces of power, and the clamours 
of the Arian bishops, could not procure the revocation of the 
Nicene, and the subscription of the Arian creed, they succeeded 
in condemning Athanasius; and his sentence was subscribed by 
the council with but few dissenting voices. 

The emperor, enraged to find that any of his subjects possess- 
ed the confidence to gainsay his imperial pleasure, wreaked his 
vengeance on these stedfast friends of the persecuted patriarch. 
They were banished from their country, and some of them put 
to the torture. Athanasius himself, though firmly supported 
by his brethren of Alexandria, was under the necessity of mak- 
ing his retreat; he was seized in the church during the celebra- 
tion of divine service, and with difficulty conveyed to a place 
of safety by the zeal of his clergy. 

The Arians, now triumphant, held council after council 
at Rimini and Ravena, to confirm the fashionable and courtly 
religion; and the docility with which the bishops almost univer- 
sally subscribed the Arian creed, shows us to what a pitch 
of worldly-mindedness and hypocrisy the prelatical corps of that 
period had arrived. The monks of the desart concealed the 
Alexandrian defender of the triune faith, who did not slumber 



XXXVI HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

in his secret retreat, but continued to labour in defence of the 
doctrine he had taught, and, in the face of every danger, had 
hitherto maintained, against an overwhelming opposition. These 
defences he found means to issue from his desart solitude, gall- 
ing to his adversaries, but well calculated for confirming the 
faith, and strengthening the hopes, of his dejected, despised, and 
persecuted adherents. In one of them he thus expresses him- 
self, "The Father cannot be the Son, nor the Son the Father. 
The Holy Ghost is never called by the name of the Son; but the 
Spirit of the Father and the Son. The holy trinity is but one 
divine nature, and one God, with which nothing created can be 
joined. This is sufficient for the faith ; human knowledge goes 
no farther; the cherubims veil the rest with their vings." 

Amid these scenes of clamour and contention, the em- 
peror closed a life of tyranny and unceasing anxiety, after 
having been baptized by the bishop of Antioch, the supporting 
pillar of the Arian heresy, in the full confidence, it is probable, 
that the water in baptism would wash off every impurity from 
his soul. 

Julian, his successor, had, owing to his youth, escaped the 
massacre of his family, who were butchered, by order of Con- 
stantius, on his accession to the throne. He had been privately 
educated amongst the clergy, and became a reader in the church. 
He was the only surviving branch of the family of Constantine 
the Great, and appointed by Constantius to the command of the 
army in Gaul, where he was engaged in a dangerous, but suc- 
cessful, warfare against the Germans. After obtaining a deci- 
sive victory, his army, in opposition to his earnest and repeated 
remonstrances, in a fit of triumphant acclamation, hailed him 
with the title of emperor. 

On learning what had taken place, Constantius, burning 
with rage and resentment, marched, at the head of an army, to 
punish this daring presumption'; but falling sick at Celicia, he 
expired, leaving the empire to the quiet possession of his hated 
rival. 

Julian has been branded by historians with the name of apos- 
tate, which he scarcely deserved. He beheld the hands of his 
christian cousin dyed with the blood of his nearest relations. 
He saw that the religion of the court consisted merely in the 
ambitious intrigues of sycophant bishops; and having little op- 
portunity to observe the genuine practice of Christianity among 
the conscientious and sincere, it was not to be wondered that 
his mind revolted from a system with which he was so little ac- 
quainted, and from which he had received such unsufferable in- 
juries. He was, moreover, tired and disgusted with the end- 
less quarrels and contentions about abstruse questions and opt- 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. XXXV11 

nions, which the opposing parties had seldom suffered to sleep 
under the former reign; and if no christian, he seems, at least, 
to have been an honest man. He supported no party at the ex- 
pense of another, hut left his subjects the freedom he allowed 
himself, namely, to enjoy their own opinions. We must ad- 
mire his candour and liberality of sentiment, however much we 
may lament his misfortunes, in being surrounded by inter- 
ested flatterers, and weakly listening to their selfish admoni- 
tions. His death, however, soon put a period to all his pur- 
poses, whether favourable or unfriendly to the christian reli- 
gion. He fell in the prime of life, after the short reign of twenty 
months, in an expedition against the Persian monarch, by the 
lance of a common soldier; and considering the shortness of his 
reign, and the unshackled toleration he maintained, the christi- 
ans could suffer but little under his mild administration. They 
have abused him, however, with unmerited reproach, while in- 
fidels continue to laud him with undeserved praise. 

Jovian, though blamed for his political measures, seems to 
have been endued with true wisdom and piety while counte- 
nancing the christian faith, which he cordially embraced. He 
prohibited all violence against those of a different opinion, whe- 
ther christians or pagans. Under his liberal administration, 
Athanasius, leaving his concealment, returnetl to his church, 
and enjoyed a short interval of repose. 

Valentinian and Valens, though brothers, pursued different 
lines of direction. Valentinian, like his predecessor, protected 
the orthodox; while Valens, a determined Arian, renewed the 
persecution against the abettors of the Nicene creed; and having 
expelled their bishops, filled their places with those of his own faith. 
Athanasius, the prime object of Arian malignity, was doomed to 
suffer another and last exile under this reign; yet, in spite of all 
the intrigues of his enemies, he was recalled to his see, and there 
permitted to die in peace. That he had his faults, candour 
must acknowledge; but the inveterate persecutions he suffered, 
and the unmanly attempts made to ruin his reputation, were 
provocations against which his patience was not always proof; 
and though the peculiar circumstances, in which he was placed, 
will not excuse his improprieties, they have considerably blunt- 
ed the edge of severe reprehension. Valens perished in battle* 
His successors, Gratian and Honorius, agreed to suppress pa- 
ganism and erect the banner of the cross; but none used me- 
thods so strong and severe as Theodosius, surnamed the Great. 

Theodosius, taking a fallacious view of his prerogative, and a 
very erroneous estimate of his official power, planned an enter- 
prise, to which both were unequal. The frequent disorders, 
arising from the contentions of religious parties, had probably 



XXXV111 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

led him to the chimerical notion of a wrangling empire, changed 
to an unconquerable fraternity, all moved by one spirit, possessing 
only one opinion, one faith, one baptism, and one imperial head; 
whose wisdom, he imagined, was equal to his power, and whose 
opinions were consequently the only proper standard to which 
those of his subjects ought to be conformed; perhaps dreaming, 
that such an organization could not fail in raising him to the 
summit of human glory, while it restored the christian world to 
a paradise of happiness and tranquillity. However this might 
have been, Theodosius, whose temper was violent, and whose 
government was tyrannical and overbearing, proceeded to the 
hopeless task of concentring and assimilating all the religious opi- 
nions of the empire with that of their imperial lord and master. 
The pagans were prohibited, on pain of death, from sacrificing, or 
in any way to take part in, or attend any of their pagan cere- 
monies; and fully determined on establishing an uniformity of 
religion throughout the empire, the severest pains and penal- 
ties were enacted against all those who refused to conform to* 
his orthodox establishment* 

Libanius, the friend of Julian, still attached to the old 
idolatry, presumed, in this eventful crisis, to address this chris- 
tian emperor, and teach him an important lesson from his own 
creed, " That religion ought to be planted in men's minds by 
reason, not by force;" but the emperor was too wise to be 
taught. 



SECT. II. 

From ike end of the fourth, to the beginning of the fifteenth Century* 

The establishment of Christianity, under Theodosius, and 
the uniformity of faith enforced by his imperial decree, had 
raised the catholic church to superlative eminence; but all was 
external show. Her revenues were immense, and her power 
and. influence almost incredible; but corruption had already 
wormed itself into all her institutions. She had extended her 
borders, and vanquished her enemies; but the simplicity and 
purity of her doctrines and institutions were sadly^ adulterated, 
and the power of godliness lamentably decayed. Ambition, 
pride, and luxury, the never-failing consequences of wealth and 
power, with all their concomitant evils, found a ready recep- 
tion in her corrupted bosom. Heresies, schisms, and unchris- 
tian contentions, marked her defection in legible characters; 
while an universal scramble for power and pre-eminence af- 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. XXXIX 

forded a disgusting sample of prelatical selfishness and hy- 
pocrisy. 

The Roman empire, now divided between Arcadius and Ho- 
norius, was ready to fall in pieces by its own weight; and no- 
thing presented itself to the contemplative mind but barbarous 
ignorance and ecclesiastical usurpation. A splendid hierarchy, 
with a showy profession, smothered beneath the fooleries, frauds, 
and puerile rites of a most ridiculous and unmanly superstition. 
The Goths, a swarm of northern barbarians, commenced their 
ravages on the western empire, nor discontinued their incur- 
sions till its final overthrow. The Theodosian decree of uni- 
formity had forced vast numbers of the Arians, under the for- 
mer reign, to take shelter amongst this barbarous people, 
many of whom had been converted to Christianity by their as- 
siduity and zeal. The Arians, when formerly in power, had 
acted towards the trinitarians with the most implacable spirit 
of persecution and intolerance; but the triumph of the orthodox, 
and the decree of uniformity in their favour, afforded them a 
plausible opportunity for retaliation. Thus the persecuted be- 
came the persecutors, and repaid their antagonists with a libe- 
rality of vengeance, altogether incompatible with the doctrines 
by which they professed to regulate their conduct. The Arians, 
under such circumstances and feelings, it may be supposed, did 
not neglect to impress the minds of their Gothic converts with 
the sufferings that had reduced them to wandering exiles, or to 
invoke their vengeance on their enemies of the orthodox church. 
Accordingly, we find that the first incursions of these savages 
were directed against the adherents of the Roman faith with 
the most destructive precision, and attended with incredible 
ruin and desolation wherever they directed their march. 

In Africa, they burnt, plundered, and destroyed the country, 
massacring its inhabitants with unsparing vengeance. The 
bishops, who held the doctrine of the trinity, were tortured, ba- 
nished, or murdered, and their churches levelled with the 
ground. The Persian monarchs also exercised such severities, 
as threatened to extinguish the christian name; and even in 
those countries, where the Roman authority still subsisted, the 
mutual animosities of the orthodox and heretical parties rivaled, 
and in many instances even outdid, the cruelties of their Gothic 
invaders; while the orthodox prelates, to whom the opu- 
lent bishoprics, such as Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, 
&c. became bones of bitter contention, mustering their respec- 
tive friends and dependants, disputed their claims with mutual 
anathemas, tyger-like ferocity, and torrents of blood. 

The pagan idolatry had, by this time, been nearly de- 
stroyed in the western empire; and in the east, the younger 



Xl HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

Theodosius had wholly converted the pagan temples to the pur- 1 
poses of Christianity, and purged his army and magistracy from 
almost every remnant of polytheism. This division of the em- 
pire had escaped the incursions of the Goths, hut had now to 
contend with the Huns, who cruelly invaded and plundered 
Thrace and the places adjacent, while the Vandals desolated 
Africa, and the Goths overran Spain and Gaul; and after the 
sackage of Rome, returned to the charge with additional strength 
and resolution; and Italy, with its proud capital, fell into the 
hands of Odoacer. But scarcely had he begun to breathe under a 
settled government, when fresh hordes of Ostragoths, under the 
direction of Theodoric, invaded his territories, defeated his ar- 
mies, and laid hold on his ill-defended throne. During these 
calamities, the afflictions of the church must have been inces- 
sant and severe; and though her conquering invaders assum- 
ed the profession of Christianity, and whole nations and armies, 
following the example of their leaders, were baptized, and in 
this way initiated into the Christian church; they had merely 
changed one superstition for another, and were almost as much 
pagans as before. 

The Britons, who, in consequence of the departure of the 
Roman legions, had been invaded and much harassed by the 
incursions of their Scottish neighbours, solicited the aid of the 
Saxons; who, after having succeeded in driving out the Scots, 
seized on the kingdom they were hired to defend, and cruelly 
ravished the country, destroyed its inhabitants, pulled down 
their churches, and drave the feeble remains of the christian 
population to the mountains of Wales, — In the furnace of afflic- 
tion men are expected to be purified, but here, notwithstanding 
that desolation was spreading on every side, the church grew 
more and more corrupted, both in doctrine and practice. The 
imperial establishment of uniformity was far from procuring 
the peace of the church, and, if we may judge of the past by 
present experience, equally ill qualified for promoting her spi- 
ritual prosperity. The church, indeed, had greatly extended 
her wings; her temples glittered with gold and precious stones, 
and her priests with gorgeous robes; but the divine inhabitant 
was fled, Christ, the legitimate King and Head of his church, 
had been dethroned, and his crown set on the capricious head 
of the Roman emperor, who formed and fashioned her accord- 
ing to his imperial good pleasure. He had long continued to 
install or depose his bishops as seemed good in his own eyes, 
nor had his power hitherto met with any considerable resist- 
ence. The people, long ago sunk in ignorance and slavery, had 
lost the knowledge of their own privileges; while their prelati- 
cal superintendents, exercising a watchful jealousy over one 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. xli 

another, were too much employed in their ambitious intrigues 
to pay much regard to the instruction and edification of their 
flocks. 

The rising magnificence of Constantinople created no small 
jealousy in the mind of the bishop of Rome, who contended 
with the Constantinopolitan bishop for the right of spiritual su- 
premacy. The east chiefly acknowledged the one, and the west 
the other; while both, availing themselves of every opportunity 
of extending their jurisdiction, even at the other's expence, 
dealt out their fulminations against one another with a pro- 
fligate prodigality. 

The bishop of Rome, with a policy becoming the occasion, 
announced himself as the protector of all oppressed clergymen. 
This drew to his court an incredible number of appellants; and, 
by a well regulated system of craft and encroachment, enabled 
him to rise in the scale of eminence. So besotted were the peo- 
ple now become, that the vices of the clergy did not lessen the 
reverence paid them by that superstitious generation. This 
false piety, and blind veneration of ignorant devotees, made the 
function of a clergyman a very agreeable thing, and introduced 
into the order a horde of idle and vicious men; among whom 
saints sprung up like mushrooms, and were looked up to by the 
ignorant as men highly favoured of heaven. The monks, 
meantime, in clouds, like locusts, began to cover the earth, and 
rallying under various leaders, formed a veteran corps for sup- 
porting the dignity of the mother churchy and watching the 
vacancies of the opulent bishoprieks. Convents, too, were mul- 
tiplied throughout the christian world in this eventful age; and 
such were the notions of the people, that the founders of these 
receptacles of indolence and vice, were considered the most 
meritorious individuals. As superstition advanced, departed 
spirits rose into veneration. Their images began to be held sa- 
cred; the presence of the saint was supposed to exist in the 
image, and astonishing miracles were not wanting to attest its 
deification; while relics became sovereign remedies for all diseases, 
either of the body or mind. They were believed to possess 
the power of driving away devils, and removing every evil to 
which mortality is incident. The bishop of Rome was the first 
who patronized this lucrative trade, and, with his own hands* 
dispensed these astonishing favours to his ignorant votaries. 
The clergy had long endeavoured to raise their importance, and 
make themselves necessary to the people, and had so far suc- 
ceeded, that they were now considered as the only persons 
capable of approaching the Deity, and obtaining for them the 
favours they wanted. The pomp of worship, garments, altars, 
and utensils, awed the vulgar to reverence; while a round of 

2 v 



Xlii HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

bawling services, night and day, kept up the ostentatious ap- 
pearance of a fervent devotion. And the Nestorian controversy 
at last introduced Mary, with her Son, to the first and most 
conspicuous place in the orthodox church. The public penance 
was now cunningly dispensed with, to make room for auricular 
confession and private absolution; a mode at once more conve- 
nient for the culprit, and much more agreeable, as it gave addi- 
tional importance to the ghostly fathers. 

We are now stepping from the glimmerings of twilight to 
the darkness of a night, where scarcely a star peeps through the 
dismal gloom to point the groping pilgrim on his dubious way. 
The Goths and Vandals were triumphant. Anastasius and 
Justin exerted themselves to arrest the progress of these power- 
ful invaders, but to no purpose; their efforts rather increased 
the public calamity. A momentary triumph was obtained by 
Belisarius in Africa, and Narses in Italy; but this was succeeded 
by fresh swarms of Lombards, who established their empire over 
the degenerate Romans, and ruled them with a rod of iron. 
In the mean time, astonishing conversions of whole nations, 
Germans, Gauls, Britons, &c. increased the fame of the monk- 
ish apostles, who were now busied in baptizing their converts 
by thousands. Wherever these monkish itinerants had the for- 
tune to gain a queen for a convert, with a king complacent 
enough to acquiesce in the superior wisdom of his christian con- 
sort, a nation was born at once ; who, notwithstanding of their 
new name, retained their former ignorance, and had only 
changed their superstition. To stimulate these hasty conver- 
sions, Gregory the Great had granted them the indulgence of all 
the sports and pastimes attached to their pagan festivities, only 
that the virgin and her Son, with the Apostles and other saints, 
were to be worshipped instead of Thor and Friga. About this 
period, miracles became so numerous, that they nearly ceased 
to be miraculous. 

By the beginning of this, the seventh century, the barbarian 
conquerors had generally submitted to the religion of the van- 
quished. The Lombards and Burgundians embraced the ortho- 
dox faith; and the Anglo Saxon kings of the heptarchy in Eng- 
land, had entered the pale of the church, several of them by the 
instigation of their fair consorts, and could easily command 
their ignorant subjects to embrace the opinions of their masters* 
The Jews in Spain, and the Gauls, as they had been driven in- 
to the church, so they were retained by the discipline of the 
sword; while Heraclius, throughout his empire in the east, 
dragged his reluctant subjects to the fonts, and generously bap- 
tized them in multitudes. Yet, after all, these wholesale con- 
versions scarcely amounted to a tythe of the numbers cut off 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. xliii 

by the sword of persecution, or the destructive inroads of the 
barbarians. 

The Nestorian christians, ashamed of this imperial process, 
went to work in a more pleasing and apostolic manner. Their 
missionary efforts were directed to India, China, and the num- 
berless tribes of northern barbarians, even into Scythia and 
Siberia. All outward persecution against the church, as a 
body, had now subsided, with the exception of, now and then, 
a scene of transitory oppression from the Persians, and some 
malicious attacks from the Jews in Syria and Palestine ; so that 
the christian world slumbered in the arms of ease, ignorance, 
and indifference, while a stupid system of pompous, mechanical, 
and unceasing devotion, threatened to lull her asleep, uncon- 
scious of the scourge that was preparing to chastise her mani- 
fold and grievous backslidings. 

In the beginning of this century, the famous Mahomet first 
made his public appearance. A man of admirable invention, 
and ready elocution, possessing at once a fearless intrepidity 
and inflexible perseverance, with a noble and commanding ex- 
terior. He had been engaged in a course of mercantile trans- 
actions in Arabia, where, by travelling, he became acquainted 
with that country, and the manners of its inhabitants. The 
Christianity professed in these regions, as elsewhere, had been 
wofully adultered and jumbled together with pagan and monk- 
ish superstition, insomuch, that he considered the erection of 
a new religion, amongst a people so debased with ignorance, to 
be a matter of obvious practicability. Accordingly, adopting 
the leading doctrine of the Jewish and christian religion, the 
unity of the Godhead, and exploding every species of idolatry 
and polytheism, while manifesting the highest reverence for 
the one Jehovah, he pretended a divine commission for correct- 
ing the errors and abuses of Jews and christians, and for re- 
storing the primitive and patriarchal religion of Abraham. To 
render his religious system more palatable, he admitted poly- 
gamy, and promised his votaries a paradise of carnal enjoy- 
ments, that he might thereby seduce the voluptuous; while the 
sword of vengeance was unsheathed to compel the refractory. 

The gross ignorance universally prevalent, the corruption 
of manners, the quarrels and irreconcilable enmity amongst the 
christians of that period, rendered them an easy acquisition to 
a religion, wherein Moses and Christ held a distinguished place 
amongst the prophets; and sensuality was indulged with its 
most alluring gratifications, while the strong arm of vengeance 
left no alternative but conversion, death, or slavery. How 
much the christians must have suffered under the bloody pro- 
gress of this new religion, it is painful to contemplate. 



Xliv HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

Iii this century, the long and ardent struggle for clerical su- 
premacy, between Rome and Constantinople, came to a final 
rupture. Many attempts to close up the wounds had all proved 
abortive: the one church, too proud to receive an equal, the 
other, to suffer a superior. Rome exercised all her craft and 
ingenuity to raise herself to supreme authority over all the 
churches; but her attempts this way met with a spirited oppo- 
sition from many kings and bishops in the western empire; 
while the east, with few exceptions, remained obedient to Con? 
stantinople. The ancient Britons and Scotch had often disputed 
the mandates of the Roman bishops; and the churches of Spain 
and Gaul rejected whatever they considered an infringement of 
their privileges; and even in Italy, the bishop of Ravena, and 
others, refused all unqualified submission. In* order therefore 
to strengthen the authority of Rome, her politic pontiffs cout 
trived to attach the monks to her obedience, by encouraging 
them to quarrel with the bishops, under whose superintendence 
they had formerly been placed, and transfer their obedience to 
Rome. A mighty host was thus rallying themselves under the 
banner of the pope, who, to secure their allegiance, afforded 
them very singular indulgences. Thus, wealth accumulating 
with a gradual acquisition of strength, a power sprung up in 
the west, which, in subsequent ages, hurled its thunders at the 
most powerful monarchs, and brought them trembling to the 
footstool of the haughty possessor of the triple crown. The 
scriptures, notwithstanding all these lamentable circumstances* 
were still in the hands of the people, who read them without 
restraint. Neither, as yet, according to Hdephonsus, had the, 
absurd doctrine of transubstantiation been invented, though tho 
celebration of the Lord's supper had been loaded with endless 
ceremonies, attended with all the useless pomp of pageantry 
and dress. 

The Saracens continued to extend their conquests, and spread 
their religion through Asia and Africa; while the distracted 
state of the eastern empire paralyzed her strength, and preclude 
ed the possibility of any thing like a vigorous defence. At 
Constantinople all was confusion and alarm; one emperor after 
another had been hurled from his throne, and the contending 
parties were wasting their strength on one another, in a cruel 
and vindictive domestic warfare, notwithstanding that the Sarr 
acens were approaching their very walls, ready to seize on 
the jarring, effeminate, and already desolated empire. In the 
west the prospect was equally appalling. An army of Saracens 
having passed the straits of Gibraltar, rushed into Spain with 
the impetuosity of a mountain torrent, and bearing down every 
opposition, extended their conquests to the mouth of the Rhone.,. 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. xlv 

find carried their ravaging excursions into Corsica, Sicily, Saiv 
dinia, and along the Italian shores. The Grecian emperors 
were unable to make head against this formidable irruption, 
and Europe was ready to bend to the Mahometan yoke, wben 
the Gauls, under the famous Martel, mayor of the palace to 
Childeric, interposed for the safety of the continent, defeated 
the invaders, and, for a time, arrested their destructive career. 

The internal state of the Roman empire, at this period of 
her history, was truly humiliating ; driven from her possessions 
by the Saracens, and now also attacked by the Turks, who 
spread desolation wherever they directed their way; while the 
nobility and clergy, in place of rousing the spirit of the people 
to defend their country, by their authority and example, we 
find them so seriously engaged in securing their private inteiv 
ests, and promoting their schemes of ambition, that every spark 
of patriotism and piety seems to have deserted the devoted em- 
pire. Enervated by luxury, the Roman intrepidity was now 
no more; while an ignorant, luxurious, and aspiring priesthood, 
sunk in sensuality, and contaminated with the most scandalous 
vices, cared only for their lucrative situations. They had con- 
trived to draw, from the ignorant population, an ample share 
of reverence and unmerited esteem, which served to hide their 
enormities from the public eye, while a brotherly feeling, 
amongst themselves, secured their impunity, and covered their 
disgrace, 

The transcendent merit of liberal donations to the churchy 
had always been a theme on which the clergy dwelt with pecu-r 
liar complacency; but now, more than ever, had this lucrative 
doctrine became the subject of monkish declamation, and pro- 
cured for the holy coffers immense sums from every quarter 
of the christian world. So brutishly ignorant and superstitious 
were men now become, that no. man, living or dying, in health 
or sickness, considered his soul in safety, unless he had inter- 
ested the virgin, or some favourite saint, in his behalf. Kings, 
warriors, and men of wealth, being, perhaps with propriety, 
considered the greatest sinners, so they had it in their power, 
at all times, to redeem their sinful souls, at an easy rate, by 
dividing, with mother-church, the plunder they had iniqui- 
tously acquired in prosecuting their schemes of ambitious 
aggrandizement, " Redeem your souls, from the punishment 
due to your sins, while you have the means in your power," 
says St. Eloi, the highly revered bishop of Noyon, in one of his 
homilies. "He is the good christian," continues he, "who comes 
often to church, and brings his oblation to be presented on 
God's altar. Who presumes not to taste the fruits he has, 
gathered, till he has first made his offering of them to God; who ?j 



Xlvi HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

on the return of the sacred solemnities, for many days preceding, 
observes a sacred continence, even from his own wife, that 
he may approach God's altar with a safe conscience; and who 
can repeat, by memory, the creed and the Lord's prayer." 
Again, " Offer your tithes and oblations to the churches; light 
up candles in the consecrated places, according to your abili- 
ties; come frequently to the church, and, with all humility, 
pray to the saints for their patronage and protection; which 
things, if you do, when, at the last day, you stand at the tre- 
mendous bar of the eternal Judge, you may say confidently to 
him, — " Da, Domini, quia dedi." — Give, Lord, because I have 
given." Accordingly, under the blind impression of these, and 
similar absurdities, emperors, kings, and nobles, were now in 
the habit of giving to the church, not merely money and vest- 
ments, but also estates, dignities, and tenures; whereby many 
bishops became dukes, counts, and marquisses. Of these gra- 
tuities, however, the Roman pontiff received the most liberal 
proportion; and being considered the prime object of venera- 
tion, the oracle in all difficulties, and pacificator in all cases of 
contention, it is inconceivable the revenues he must have de- 
rived from his then unbroken and universal jurisdiction. 

In the midst of all this profusion and profligacy, science was 
suffered to expire, and knowledge, profane as well as scriptural, 
ceased to be cultivated. In the church, the most wretched ho-? 
milies, interlarded with fables, and the spiritual adventures of 
saints and holy martyrs, were substituted in the room of gospel 
preaching, committed to memory, and delivered by rote; for 
the priests of this age, for the most part, could neither read 
nor write. Britain and Ireland, however, had yet afforded an 
asylum for the fragments of literature that had escaped the 
general wreck. 

In the beginning of this, the eighth century, the supreme go- 
vernment of the church still remained with the Grecian em- 
perors, without whose approbation, though a pontiff might be 
elected, it was not considered valid. The Roman pontiff had 
resorted to every stratagem and intrigue that appeared condu- 
cive to the success of his darling design, of placing himself at 
the head of the universal church, and giving laws to his hated 
rival, the patriarch of Constantinople. The contests and bick- 
erings occasioned by the jealousy and ambition of these two 
leading ecclesiastics, received about this time an uncommon de- 
gree of exasperation. The Latin churches were become won- 
derfully fond of the images and pictures of Christ, his mother, 
and a number of other favourite saints. These representations 
had at first been introduced as ornaments to the churches, or 
simple memorials of favourite objects, without any idea of their 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. xlvii 

being entitled to religious veneration; but the progress of su- 
perstition had made the important discovery, that there was 
connected, with these holy representations, a sort of inhabita- 
tion, or presence of the object so represented. The Greek 
church had not, as yet, made that important discovery; and a 
very warm contest took place, in which both parties defended 
their positions with uncommon intrepidity. During this ani- 
mated display of christian zeal, the emperor Bardanes consult- 
ed with John, the patriarch of Constantinople, on this knotty 
point, and, with his approbation, dispatched his orders to Rome 
for removing and excluding all images and pictures from the 
churches; but the angry pontiff, so far from acquiescing or com- 
plying with the imperial requisition, ordered other paintings to 
be* set up in the church of St. Peter; and calling a council, 
condemned the emperor and all his abettors. But the revolution 
that happened soon after this, having removed Bardanes from 
the throne, for some time suspended the quarrel. 

But Leo, called the Isaurian, revived the dispute, and, that 
he might silence the sarcastic reproaches of the Jews and Ma- 
hometans, who detest, and have excluded from their worship 
every species of imagery, determined to remove this stumbling- 
block. An edict was accordingly issued, to remove from all the 
churches every image and picture of whatever description. 
The fire of contention, thus kindled, and fanned by the breath 
of the priesthood, immediately burnt into an inextinguishable 
conflagration. The priests and monks saw their craft in dan- 
ger, that their profits must be curtailed, and the profusion of 
their tables diminished, should this lucrative trade become con- 
traband. To prevent this terrible misfortune, they harangued 
their ignorant and superstitious votaries into rebellion, pro- 
claimed the emperor an apostate, and released his subjects from 
all duty and allegiance to such an enemy of God and his saints. 
A civil war was now raging in some of the islands, and in 
part of Asia; and the Roman and Italian provinces, instigated 
by the enraged pontiff, rebelled, and murdered or banished the 
emperor's officers. Leo, enraged at their audacity, hastened to 
revenge the insult; but was foiled, and obliged to retire with 
disgrace; and, in his fury, commanded all the images to be col- 
lected from the churches of Constantinople, and committed to 
the flames, denouncing the severest punishment on all who 
should be found practising this idolatrous worship. Thus, the 
war was declared, and prosecuted with arms, both spiritual and 
temporal, to the great destruction of the empire, and the un- 
speakable joy of the Saracens, less hated by the bishops of Rome 
than their image-hunting emperor. 

The son of Leo Copronymus succeeding his father, used the 



Xlviii HISTORICAL SKETCH 0# 

most strenuous efforts to suppress this hateful worship; and 
having subdued the rebellious pontiff and his fanatic monks 
and clergy, he summoned a general council at Constantinople* 
in which images, and the worship of images, were most solemn- 
ly condemned; but the decrees Were only submitted to, so far 
as the imperial sword had power to enforce them. At Rome 
they were despised; nor were the punishments inflicted on the 
monkish preachers of sedition sufficient to extinguish the flame 
of this enthusiastic revolt. His son enforced, by the severest 
punishments, the decrees of his predecessor; and to avenge 
himself on the Roman pontiffs, confiscated all that churches* 
possessions in Sicily and Calabria, which, together with Illyri- 
cum, he withdrew from the jurisdiction of Rome to that of Con- 
stantinople. This circumstance rendered the enmity irrecon- 
cilable, and paved the way to the final separation of these 
churches, while it provoked the Roman pontiff to look out ano- 
ther master; which, however, he had predetermined to make, 
not only his subject, but his slave. 

When the object of all these ruinous transactions had grown 
stale, and almost fallen asleep in the east, a revolution, of the 
most horrid description, afforded a complete triumph to the 
Roman pontiff. 

The , empress Irene, that she might hold the reins of go- 
vernment during the minority of her son, found means to admi- 
nister a cup of poison to her husband. Adrian, the then pontiff, 
seized the auspicious moment to league himself with this female 
monster j and, by a second Nicene council, abrogated the former 
decrees, and established the worship of images, with anathemas 
on all who insisted on the worship of God alone. St. Gregory 
had forbidden the worship of images in any manner whatsoever. 
Charlemagne and his bishops held a middle path in this con- 
troversy, supposing that images might be allowed in the churches, 
but not the worship. Adrian, the pontiff, disapproving their 
decision, drew up a refutation. In opposition, however, both 
to his defence^ and the decisions of his Nicene council, this 
worship was condemned, in a new synod, held at Frankfort* 
Consisting of three hundred bishops, convoked by the emperor. 
Hitherto, therefore, the church of Rome had neither established 
her infallibility nor her supremacy. 

A second controversy, concerning the procession of the Holy 
Ghost, rose to an amazing height, and, together with the former 
on images, tended greatly to complete the separation of these 
discordant churches. During this controversial period, vital 
religion sunk into obscurity; while her purity was lost in child- 
ish rites and ceremonial pomposity. No preaching remained 
but stupid homilies. No public worship, but an empty form, 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. xlix 

The Lord's supper was become a piece of pageantry ; and pri- 
vate masses, by a solitary priest, for the souls of the dead, added 
another lucrative source of sacerdotal pillage, and a heavy bur- 
den on their deluded relatives. The mode of worship, in the 
churches of Rome, was, with a few exceptions, adopted by 
Charlemagne for the churches of the west; which added another 
link to the chain that was destined to bind them to the foot of 
the papal throne. 

In tracing the history of a christian church destitute of Christi- 
anity, we are still descending into regions of darkness and chaos, 
where a remaining ray, of primitive piety or simplicity, to enliven 
the scene of accumulating darkness and deformity, can scarce- 
ly be seen. The east submitting to the caliphs, Africa subdued, 
their conquests extended to India, and throughout the Persian 
empire. Sicily, added to Spain, already in their possession. 
Sardinia, Crete, and the islands, augmenting the roll of their 
conquests; Calabria overrun, and Italy ready to bend to the 
Mahometan yoke; while a fresh swarm of piratical plunderers 
from the north, Danes or Normands, infested the coasts of 
Germany, Britain, Gaul, and Spain, marking their bloody route 
with devastation, plunder, and captivity. When repelled in 
one place, they landed on another; erectiug principalities where- 
ever the country invited, and the feebleness of the inhabitants 
permitted them to remain. These ignorant mauraders, not 
content with plundering the feeble inhabitants, destroyed the 
remaining fragments of knowledge that had survived the rava- 
ges of former barbarians, and escaped the observation of ages 
of ignorance; but especially harassing the christian establish- 
ments, these being found most productive in objects of desira- 
ble plunder. Thus inflicting the dreadful woe pronounced 
against the inhabitants of the earth and the sea. 

Of this once mighty empire, now incestuously united in 
church and state, it may truly be said, that the head was sick, 
the heart faint, and the whole unhallowed carcase covered with 
wounds, bruises, and putrifying sores. The people, brutish- 
ly ignorant, were become lamentably immoral; the lower orders 
of the priesthood, still more wicked and profligate than their 
pupils; but the heads of the church at Rome were, of all, the 
most transcendently vicious. Pursuing, with inflexible perse- 
verance, the grand object of universal jurisdiction, they reject- 
ed no means, hesitated at the commission of no crime, calcula- 
ted to promote or secure the darling object of their ambition. 
During the reign of Charlemagne, and some of his successors, 
who held the reigns of government with a vigorous hand, they 
could only make encroachments on the feeble; but, in propor- 
tion as the successors of Charlemagne declined in power and 

2 G 



1 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

authority, tlie popes rose in their claims and pretensions; or 
when civil wars broke out amongst the competitors for the im- 
perial crown, warily seized the moment of opportunity for ac- 
quiring additional privileges, by throwing their weight and 
powerful influence into one of the scales, till, by pursuing 
this mode of policy, they assumed the right, and really possess- 
ed the power, of bestowing, or rather making merchandise of, 
the imperial crown, which was frequently purchased by the 
richest gifts and the most abject concessions. The princes, 
thus raised by papal influence, were bound to support and esta- 
blish the pontiff's dominion and authority. And thus embodied, 
they now claimed universal power in all things relative to reli- 
gion, and denied, even to councils of the church, the power of 
determining any matter, either of doctrine or discipline, with- 
out their consent and approbation. The whole body of prelacy 
was thus subjected to the pope, the successor of Peter, the repre- 
sentative of Christ, and the only visible head of his church 
upon earth. In this way, emperors, kings, prelates, and people, 
were ultimately subjected to pontifical sovereignty, so that the 
Roman pontiff may be said to have now held the reigns of go- 
vernment, both spiritual and temporal, over an ignorant, de- 
graded, and fearingly submissive world. But nothing contri- 
buted so effectually to the success of the papal ambition, as the 
legions of monks so universally dispersed amongst the nations, 
who, in their interested zeal for their very liberal and indulgent 
master, the pope, taught the ignorant people, that to escape the 
tremendous vengeance due to their iniquities, their implicit be- 
lief in the doctrines of the church, and the intercession of its 
supreme lord and law-giver, the Roman pontiff, was altogether 
indispensable. The danger was imminent; and what will a 
man not give for his own soul ? or who would contend with a 
power, qualified, by a single breath, to sentence them to ten 
thousand years weltering in the flames of purgatory, or con- 
sign them to the hopeless state of endless retribution ! This 
monkish fraternity had become so reputedly holy, that even 
kings and princes abandoned their thrones, renounced the world, 
and retired from its temptations, to these soul purifying soli- 
tudes. So effectually had men given up their reason, and the 
use of their senses, that numbers, who had not the heart to re- 
nounce their dignities when living, clothed themselves in monk- 
ish habiliments when dying, in the hope of becoming, at least, 
partial partakers of their terrestrial merits and heavenly beati- 
fications; and what is still more unaccountable, the profligacy 
of these licentious vermin seems not to have diminished the 
general veneration for their order. 

Knowledge was now at the lowest ebb, nor could the best 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 



h 



endeavours of Charlemagne and his son to improve mankind, 
by promoting literature, produce any significant alteration for 
the better; ignorance still retained her throne of darkness. 
Such was the melancholy condition of the church and the world 
towards the end of the ninth century. The tenth added still 
to the accumulating heaps of rubbish. Prelates, at last circum- 
scribed in their authority by the all-grasping pontiffs, endea- 
voured to right themselves, by claiming civil, as well as ecclesi- 
astical authority, in the cities where they dwelt, and the diocesses 
over which they presided; in many of which kings and em- 
perors connived at their encroachments; some from' the reve- 
rence attached to their character; others, perhaps, from an opi- 
nion, that temporary prelates were less dangerous magistrates 
than an hereditary nobility. A perusal, however, of St. Dun- 
stan's conflicts with the devil, or Simeon the patriarch's lives 
of the saints, will exhibit a tolerable specimen, both of the 
taste of the times, and the debased Estate of literature, either 
christian or scientific. 

Immense as were the revenues of the church at this period, 
the demand still outdid the returns. But now a most produc- 
tive mine of wealth was discovered, which had for ages been 
concealed in the Revelations of St. John the divine, who, ac- 
cording to their selfish interpretation, had foretold, that the 
general judgment would take place at the end of the first thousand 
years. The clergy, improving this period of terror and excite- 
ment to their own advantage, multitudes, to secure some merit 
against that decisive crisis, bequeathed all their wealth to the 
church and her holy ministers, considering that the end of all 
things were at hand. This delusion was so universal, that every 
where multitudes consigned their persons and property to the 
ministers and monasteries of the church; and others, forsaking 
all, marched off to Palestine, where they expected Christ would 
descend and give them a favourable reception, as the reward of 
their laborious pilgrimage. But now the service of the virgin 
was coming into special repute in the church. It was supposed 
that she possessed by far the greatest influence in heaven. Ac- 
cordingly, to celebrate masses to her honour, and multiply de- 
votions in her name, became a favourite service; and a rosary 
and crown were invented, consisting of noisy repetitions of cer- 
tain prayers; the first containing a round of fifteen repetitions 
of the Lord's prayer, and one hundred and fifty ave-marias; the 
last, of seven repetitions of the Lord's prayer, and seven times 
ten salutations to the blessed virgin. As a retentive memory 
became necessary in the performance of these multitudinous 
devotions, and this not being the privilege of every devotee, a 
number of beads, strung on catgut, exhibiting a large necklace^ 



lii HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

was ingeniously provided for this laborious task, which, by 
dropping a bead at every prayer and salutation, at once deter- 
mined the right, both of the deity and the devotee. That men 
could invent such fooleries, is wonderful; that the first official 
character in the church should sanction their efficacy, is utterly 
astonishing. 

In the beginning of the eleventh century, the triumphs of the 
Mahometan conquerors, in the west, threatened to overwhelm 
the European continent; and, notwithstanding that an apparent 
zeal had been manifested for delivering the christians from the 
Ottoman yoke; the fever subsided, and the republic of Pisa 
alone armed in the cause. But now the Roman pontiffs, tak- 
ing up the sinking interest of Christianity in the east; Gregory 
the seventh sounded the alarm of war through the nations of 
Europe; but quarrels at home suspended the preparation, till 
Peter the Hermit roused the slumbering enthusiasm of the 
christian princes and prelates by his fanatical declamations, and 
became the tool of Urban the second, in executing the favour- 
ite plan of the papal see. Having visited the desolated plains 
of Palestine, and seen the proud crescent waving on the mosques, 
once consecrated churches of Christ, Peter had returned with 
a soul burning with indignation at the sufferings of the saints, 
and the indignities done to the cross ; and, painting the 
scenes he had witnessed with the most empassioned eloquence, 
be succeeded in kindling a flame, that burst out like a vol- 
cano. At first he solicited the aid and countenance of the 
patriarch of Constantinople, and Urban, the Roman pontiff, 
but without success. The latter, however, so soon as he be- 
held the universal efficacy of the hermit's oratory, and a letter, 
sent him from heaven, enclosing a commission to summon the 
nations to battle, piously obedient to the divine mandate, he 
called a council at Placentia, who receiving the proposal ra- 
ther coolly, he commanded a second grand assembly to meet at 
Clermont the following year; where the Franks, fond of chi- 
valry, and overflowing with zeal for holy church, met the most 
sanguine wishes of their spiritual father, listened to his pathe- 
tic discourses with all the enthusiasm of war and religion, and, 
by millions, inlisted under the sacred banner of the cross. 

Without attempting to detail the madness, the miseries, or 
the conquests, attending this crusading enterprise, suffice it to 
say, that after various ineffectual attempts, and the destruction 
of one army after another, chiefly occasioned by the fatigues of 
the march, the change of climate, and their own excesses, an 
expedition, under the famous Godfrey, so far succeeded in the 
object of their enterprise, that they founded the kingdom of 
Jerusalem, though at an expense of blood and treasure suffi- 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. lllj 

cient to people a much larger dominion, and purchase a far 
more valuable principality. But the honour of Christ, restored 
by the expulsion of the Saracens from the land of his nativity, 
and the cleansing the holy sepulchre from their profanations, 
rendered the conquest transcendently meritorious, at least in 
the opinion of the conquerors; superadded to which, the immense 
quantity of holy relics found in Palestine, or purchased and car- 
ried back to Europe in holy triumph, afforded the possessors, 
if not profit, at least a very considerable stock of importance. 
But the profligacy of manners amongst the crusaders, the rapes, 
murders, plunder, and desolation, that marked their track, were 
but miserable specimens of their pious purposes. 

The claims of the Roman pontiffs were now become bound- 
less. They asserted their right to confer all ecclesiastical hon- 
ours and emoluments; they also assumed the power and privi- 
lege to dispose of kingdoms at their pleasure, of granting 
titles to monarchs, and absolving subjects from their allegiance, 
and, by their bulls to this effect, emperors and kings were fre- 
quently subjected to the most mortifying submissions. Hitherto 
the papal encroachments had been gradual, and chiefly effected 
by policy; but now, that the junto had been tamely allowed to take 
possession of all power, spiritual and temporal, they were become 
less cautious and careful in covering their designs. Enthroned in 
majesty, far above all earthly principalities and powers, sitting 
in the temple of God, and shewing himself as God, the pope dis- 
dainfully looked down from the summit of his proud elevation, 
regarding the people, who had been thus brutalized, degrad- 
ed, and enslaved, as utterly incapable, from their ignorance, to 
detect his frauds, or, from their superstitious imbecility, to reta- 
liate on their plunderers and oppressors. How much they had 
deceived themselves, in this particular, we shall shortly see. 

During the darkest period of the church, though all was si- 
lent, all was not secure with the Roman see. Prior to the be- 
ginning of this century, murmurs began to be whispered about, 
in friendly confidence amongst the people, which gradually in- 
creased, till the terrors arising from the Mahometan con- 
quests, were much less alarming to the pope and his cardinals, 
than the mustering legions of his apostatizing slaves. Accord- 
ingly, the pontifical policy, under these circumstances, was al- 
most exclusively directed against this accumulating host of re- 
bels. It would be endless to detail the sufferings sustained, 
and the tyranny exercised, at this time, or to name the nume- 
rous objects of persecution; the heaviest weight of which fell 
on the south of France, where, under the general denomination 
of Albigenses and Waldenses, were comprehended all who re- 
sisted the absurd claims of the Roman see, and refused to com- 



llV HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

ply with the imperious dictates of its infallible pontiffs, or who 
wished and waited for a reformation of the church, both in her 
visible head and members. The Waldenses had distributed 
themselves into small societies; and, when persecuted in one 
city, numbers of them quietly removed to another, where their 
complaints were listened to by vast numbers, now become 
sick of the intolerable yoke of superstition, and the hypocriti- 
cal exercise of clerical power. The pontiff, alarmed at the 
boldness of these reformers, and their increasing numbers, had 
an inquisition established at Toulouse, who laboured, with the 
most pious and indefatigable perseverance, to extirpate these he- 
retical rebels to the holy see; and for this purpose, had recourse 
to the most inhuman and unheard of cruelties; yet, after thou- 
sands upon thousands had been wantonly sacrificed, to appease 
the wrath, and remove the guilty terrors of the alarmed father 
of the faithful, and every principle of hellish malignity exhaust- 
ed for their destruction, it was found, that prisons, to contain 
their numbers, could not be had; and though suppressed in 
one place, they almost instantaneously burst out in another. 
The purity and simplicity of the doctrines they taught, the 
spotless innocence that adorned their lives and actions, the no- 
ble contempt of riches and aggrandizement manifested in the 
whole of their conduct, appeared so engaging to all who possess- 
ed a sense of real godliness, that their numbers increased 
daily. They accordingly formed societies, first in France, and 
afterwards in Lombardy; from whence they propagated their 
doctrines throughout the European continent, and islands adja- 
cent, with incredible rapidity, and with such unqualified per- 
severance, and fearless resolution, that neither fire nor sword, 
nor the most merciless inventions of their persecuting enemies, 
could damp their zeal, or utterly ruin their cause. 

The Roman pontiffs began to discover, that though the ter- 
ror of their thunders had partly silenced the clamours of the 
people, it had not convinced them; yet, in place of setting about 
a reformation of the clergy, and a redress of grievances, they 
went to work, particularly Boniface the VIII. more like a mad- 
man than a sound politician, pushing forward all the provoking 
claims of his predecessors with an astonishing pertinacity. His 
legates, in every country, imitated their infallible lord and 
master, in multiplying the number, and magnifying the severi- 
ty of their sufferings. The clergy, avaricious beyond belief, in- 
sufferably proud and licentious: every tongue confessed their fla- 
gitious conduct; but armed with all the terrors of a world to come, 
holding in one hand the keys of paradise, in the other that of 
the bottomless pit, which they could shut, and none could open, 
and open, when none could shut, they despised the slaves 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. lv 

who crouched to them for absolution; and, in the confidence. of 
their power, glutted their vengeance with impunity, and con- 
tinued to plunder without remorse. 

To check the rising spirit of rebellion against these ghostly- 
fathers, and nip heresy in its tender bud, courts of inquisition 
were everywhere erected, and the secular power called in to 
destroy without mercy. A new monkish army, of all colours, 
was now levied, to counteract every attempt at ecclesiastical re- 
formation; all which contributed to lengthen out this odious 
reign of duplicity and plunder. The former monks, whatever 
might be their number or zeal, had long wallowed in wealth 
and profligacy, and were too well known for their immoralities, 
to counteract the operations of the reformers. But this new 
order, sworn to perpetual poverty, begging from door to door, 
bare-footed, and coarsely clad with a rope for a girdle, and ha- 
bituating themselves to a sedate and sanctimonious deportment, 
astonished the world with their self-abasing mortifications. 
This begging corps increasing in number, like vermin on the 
banks of the Nile, were necessarily divided into four great bo- 
dies, Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, and hermits of St. 
Augustine. It is impossible to conceive the influence these 
beggars acquired over all ranks of the community. Entrusted 
by the pope witli the management of absolution and indulgen- 
ces, they became almost exclusively the spiritual guides and 
keepers of the conscience; engrossing, by degrees, all power 
and all employment, so that, had they agreed amongst them- 
selves, they offered fair to perpetuate the slavery of the world. 
To extirpate heresy was the object of their creation, and they 
found abundance of employment; for heresy was now changed 
from points of fundamental belief, to opinions at variance with 
the claims, or opposed to the powers or prerogatives, of the 
holy see. 

This black and bloody band of pious assassins was principally 
entrusted with the inquisitorial department; and, for the bene- 
fit of men's souls, consigned their mortal members to the flames, 
that were everywhere kindled against such as opposed the cur- 
rent order of the day. 

The pope now, by his own authority, claimed the right to 
establish articles of faith; and in the fourth lateran council, had 
the audacity to publish his decrees, which the assembled bish- 
ops were commanded to hear and obey; and, for the first 
time, the term transubstantiation was established by his authori- 
ty, and auricular confession universally imposed on the church; 
two mighty engines, in the hands of such proficients, in the 
lucrative science of deception. The absurd notion, of propitiat- 
ing the Deity, by self-inflicted punishments, introduced the 



Ivi HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

flagetlantes, who filled the air with their shrieks, while they 
lacerated their bodies in honour of God and his saints; yet, 
such was the veneration acquired by these unnatural inflictions, 
that they became fashionable, and occasioned such crowds and 
tumults, as compelled the popes and emperors to check the 
progress of this sanguinary exercise. 

The papal authority had now reached its meridian splendour, 
and unqualified submission became a matter of course. Every 
order of ecclesiastics were drilled down to passive obedience; 
even monarchs held their crowns on a very precarious tenure, 
while the pope not only claimed, but really possessed, the power 
of transferring them at pleasure. His anathemas at once deter- 
mined the fate of the unhappy culprit, both in this and the 
world to come; and thus the most stubborn was forced to yield 
to the stern mandates of persevering ambition. 

About this time the scenic representations, called mysteries^ 
were first introduced; and these sacred puppet shows served to 
render religion utterly ridiculous. The persons of the drama 
were sometimes real, sometimes allegorical; the Almighty, the 
devil, Jesus Christ, heresy, the blessed virgin, and a motley 
variety of other respectable characters, both from heaven and 
hell, with not a few that could neither be found in the one or 
the other. 

Another lucrative invention of Boniface VIII. closed the cen* 
tury, namely, the celebration of the jubilee year, from which 
a rich harvest was expected, by the pilgrims, who, every cen- 
tenary year, would visit the church of St. Peter, and its holy 
relics. To draw the superstitious world to this seat of holiness, 
proclamation was made, that the full remission of sins, and a 
profusion of indulgences, should be the reward of all who effect- 
ed this pious pilgrimage. To obtain such inestimable blessings, 
to behold the glory, and receive the benediction of the infallible 
vicegerent of Gocl, were objects too important to be treated 
with neglect; and the hopes of the pious pontiff were more than 
realized; so that the successors of Boniface made a virtue of 
holding the jubilee once every fiftieth year, in imitation of the 
Jews. Men gather wisdom by degrees; and it was afterwards 
held every twenty-fifth year; and this third invention rested on 
very plausible ground, by giving every good christian an oppor- 
tunity to witness the splendour, and receive the transcendent 
blessings, so liberally distributed on these sacred occasions. 

The fourteenth century found the Roman pontiff* still 
zealous for measuring lances with the Saracens beneath the 
walls of Jerusalem; but the courage and zeal of his vassals were 
wonderfully cooled. Experience had taught them the difficulty 
of the enterprise, as well as the selfish views of its instigators* 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. iVII 

The kings of France and England were cajoled, threatened, and 
earnestly entreated to commiserate the sufferings of the Pales- 
tine christians, to feel for the honour, and merit the plenitude 
of the church's indulgences; but all to no purpose, they still found 
plausible excuses, and kept their thrones. Succeeding popes 
offered part of the church's treasures to forward this holy work; 
and opening the store-house of church indulgences, disposed of 
a part of this inexhaustible stock on the most liberal terms; 
but the enterprise failed. Another attempt was made by Cle- 
ment V. encouraged by similar means; and an army, under Guy 
the Dauphin, proceeded on their route; but unable to procure 
provisions, or subsist without them, they returned with swords 
unsheathed, and their indulgences in their pockets. John, king 
of France, however, by the instigations of Urban V. prepared 
for the important enterprise; but his death disconcerted the 
whole scheme, and terminated the most foolish, ruinous, and 
impractical struggle to be found in the records of the world. 

The church of Rome, now at the summit of power, her arro- 
gance was equal to her authority. All who read the bible, and 
evinced a relish for the simplicity of truth, were noted as here- 
tics, and delivered to their inquisitorial tormenters. The kings 
of the earth seemed to have given their power to the beast; and 
her ecclesiastical minions, to the meanest of the sacerdotal tribe, 
fought manfully under her banners. The inquisitors watched, 
with the eyes of Argus, to keep down every spirit that breathed 
reform, or supposed the church could possibly need it, either in 
her head or members; yet, under all this appearance of perma- 
nent dominion, secret causes were at work in sapping the 
foundation of her unsufferable tyranny. 

Two popes, and sometimes three, at once claiming infallibi- 
lity, tended greatly to relax the bond of spiritual obedience; 
for, with all the ignorance of the times, men had not wholly 
lost their senses, but naturally considered, that the threatened 
damnation, for disobedience to three different pretenders, evi- 
dently demonstrated the impossibility of all being right. The 
determined and successful opposition which Philip, king of 
France, maintained against the arrogant claims of Boniface, 
who, in one of his bulls, solemnly promulgated, " That all 
power, spiritual and temporal, was vested in the Roman see 
by Jesus Christ; and that every human being, who dared to 
disbelieve this fact, was, by that act of unbelief, constituted an 
heretic, and damned to all eternity." Philip treated the bull 
with sovereign contempt, and, in his turn, charged his insolent 
holiness with both heresy and simony, demanding an oecumeni- 
cal council to judge and depose him. The furious Boniface in- 
stantly launched the thunders of the Vatican at the head of this 

3 h 



Iviil HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

sturdy antagonist; but Philip, supported by Lis states, sent No* 
garet, with orders to seize the refractory pontiff, and bring him 
bound to Lyons. Accordingly, he was surprised at Anagui, treat- 
ed with every indignity, and so wounded in the head, that though 
carried off by the people, he died of his wounds, or the fever 
occasioned by his rage. His successor recalled the excommu- 
nication; but it was a dangerous example, to show that the 
popes might be resisted with impunity. These circumstances, 
together with the disputes among the Franciscans about the 
rules of their order, in which the power of the popes had, dur- 
ing this century, been frequently exerted in vain, greatly en- 
couraged a spirit of resistance to their authority. 

Ambition, like fire, reluctantly descends, and papacy, in spite 
of the intestine divisions, distractions, and partial oppositions 
made to the papal authority, still maintained its proud claims 
of dominion over all persons, civil or ecclesiastical, assuming 
all power in heaven, earth, and hell. Her claims to civil power 
was disputed by the princes, who asserted their independence, 
and were supported by all who found fault with the Roman ty- 
ranny. Her bulwarks, however, were still strong, and her de- 
fenders numerous, interested, active, and zealous. The Canon- 
ists, who lived by the spiritual courts, were her learned advo- 
cates; the monks and clergy, in general, her dependent, hum- 
ble, and obsequious satellites; the inquisitors, her bloody execu- 
tioners; whilst the reverence acquired by ages of imposture, 
and still supported by the consideration, that they were reve- 
rencing Christ himself, who paid their devoirs to his vicar, shed 
a glory round the seat of the beast that was difficult to destroy; 
yet, notwithstanding of the vast numbers that were now com- 
ing forward, as opposers of the present order of things, the most 
zealous of her abettors contributed the most liberally to her 
downfal, by their voluptuous and licentious lives, their ava- 
rice, and oppressive immoralities. 

The mendicant orders, which the policy of former pontiffs 
had established, for the purpose of supporting and promoting 
ecclesiastical authority, by their pretended piety and poverty, 
now that the lives of the clergy had become so utterly disgusting, 
that their zeal and exertions had become inefficient, even they 
were much belied, if the monkish cowl did not cover the most 
scandalous immoralities. These orders having insinuated them- 
selves into the courts and favour of princes, obtained a prepon- 
derating influence over the affairs of mankind, both civil and 
religious. Widely dispersed, and so firmly united in the de- 
fence of their privileges, the popes themselves were constrained 
to respect these beggars of their own creation, who constituted 
the very soul of the hierarchy, the engines of state, and the secret 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. lix 

springs of the movements of both, suggesting and directing 
every great and important concern, both in the religious and 
political world. Exkibiting, in their manner and general 
appearance, more striking marks of gravity and holiness than 
were observable in other monastics, the enthusiastic attach- 
ment to these sanctimonious beggars went so far, that the peo- 
ple were unwilling to receive the sacraments from other hands, 
but crowded their churches while living, and were anxious to 
be interred in the rags of that holy order when dead. 

But their popularity and pontifical protection, their monopoly 
of the power, employment, and emolument of the prelates and 
secular clergy, procured them the envy and hatred of these dis- 
appointed parties; who, jealous of their overwhelming influence, 
began to dispute, not only their rights, but the authority on 
which they were founded. The universities of Oxford and Pa- 
ris resisted their claims, and numbers set themselves to write 
against their abuses. John de Polliac, in France; Richard, 
archbishop of Armagh, and others, attacked them, but in vain: 
the monks triumphed at the court of Rome over all their ad-^ 
versaries. 

The famous Wickliff particularly distinguished himself in 
this controversy, and vigorously supported the archbishop in 
his opposition to the encroachments of these insolent beggars 
on the privileges of the Oxford university: nor did the popes, 
or the Roman see itself, escape the pointed animadversions of 
this intelligent and energetic Englishman; for which he was de- 
prived of his wardenship, and a monk put in his place. In- 
censed at this oppression, and zealous for the honour of his uni- 
versity, Wickliff treated the monkish order with equal severi- 
ty and contempt, exhorted all men to read the scriptures, and 
judge for themselves, resolving to afford them that opportunity, 
by translating them into their native tongue. He nar- 
rowly escaped martyrdom; but his writings were condemn- 
ed as heretical, and publicly burnt. His followers were less 
fortunate than their leader, many of whom, under the denomi- 
nation of Wickliffites and Lollards, were universally sought 
out, and hunted down, by the bishops and their eagle-eyed in- 
quisitors, and subjected to the unrelenting vengeance of their 
courts ecclesiastic, who were already engaged in the extirpation 
of the Waldenses, Cathari, Apostolics, and others; to whom the 
only alternative remaining, was either to abjure or perish. 
Confuted by the keen disputations of Dun Scotus, on the one 
hand, and, on the other, attacked by the more energetic argu- 
ments of racks and gibbets, fire and chains. 

Amid all this havoc, contention, and turmoil, pope Innocent V. 
added to the number of holidays, already by far too numerous, 



lx HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

the festival of the lance, of the nails, and of the crown of 
thorns, with all their appropriate ceremonies; to which, on pur- 
pose to gratify the Franciscans, he added the festival of the 
five wounds, which had been so miraculously impressed on the 
body of St. Francis; while pope John XXII. enjoined a saluta- 
tion to Mary, to be added to the daily prayers of every good 
christian. Nothing was now too gross, too whimsical, or ab- 
surd, for the folly, ignorance, or superstition of the age; but 
streaks of light Avere beginning to glimmer athwart this fearful 
condensity of circumvolving darkness. 



SECT. III. 
From the beginning of the fifteenth Century till the death of Edward VI, 

Wasted with incessant war, and harassed by their conquer- 
ors, the christians in Asia were compelled to bend to the Ma- 
hometan yoke, and many of them to adopt their religion ; while 
the eastern empire, reduced to little more than the city of Con- 
stantinople, invoked the aid of the western world in vain. The 
pope, more intent on reducing them to spiritual subjection, than 
enabling them to defend their liberties, deceived them with 
promises, which he was either unwilling or unable to perform. 
In the meantime, the decisive hour arrived, and Constantinople 
fell; the report of which struck the western world with terror 
and amazement; yet, strange as it may appear, neither the dan- 
gers to which the western empire was exposed, nor the terri- 
ble consequences of eastern imbecility, could rouse the spirit 
of the christian princes, or engage them in any bond of mutual 
defence. 

The triumph of the cross over the crescent in Spain added 
little to the christian church; the Mahometans, adhering to the 
religion of the prophet with unconquerable tenacity, rejected 
the faith of the cross; which produced their final expulsion from 
the country by the archbishop of Toledo; a measure equally 
unchristian, as it was savage and impolitic. The Jews also re- 
sisted, and suffered the most appalling cruelties. The discovery 
of a new world, about this period, opened a wide door for the 
propagation of the gospel, had the missionaries been as judicious 
as the mariners had been adventurous; but humanity revolts 
from the narrative of Spanish cruelty, and Portuguese con^ 
quests, in the southern regions of that unfortunate continent, 
to compel men, by the most exquisite tortures, to discover their 
wealth to the plunderer, and, at the same time, force their sub- 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. lxi 

mission to baptism for the salvation of their souls, manifests 
an atrocity of character that merits eternal reprobation. 

Under this reign of superstition, virtue retired before the 
overwhelming power of audacious and triumphant vice. Nou- 
rished by indulgences, and protected by kindred consciousness 
of criminality, every crime was now considered venal, heresy 
alone excepted. This was the great, the unpardonable, the mor- 
tal sin, and of very extensive import, embracing all those unfoiv 
tunate christians that expressed a doubt regarding the dogmas, 
or resisted the dictates of the Roman see; such characters were 
ferreted out by the inquisitors, and destroyed by fire and sword. 
Such was the pontifical jealousy, that whosoever touched, or 
expressed a desire to touch, the grossest ecclesiastical abuse, 
was touching the apple of the church's eye. Yet some daring 
spirits would not keep silence, but denounced the Roman har- 
lot as a traitor to Christ, and a murderer of his unoffending 
friends and followers, whose villanies outdid that of the accur- 
sed sinners of Sodom, and whose punishment was equally cer- 
tain, and would be proportionably more terrible and exemplary. 
In the mean time, two popes had been elected, and their mutu- 
al animosity and anathemas threatened to drive every thing 
into confusion. The election of a third, with a view to heal 
the breach, served only to place an additional gladiator on the 
theatre; each of whom, maintaining his exclusive and legiti- 
mate sovereignty, and condemning his antagonist to the flames 
of hell for ever and ever. The scandal occasioned by these lu- 
dicrous transactions, together with the cry of reform, resound- 
ing from so many quarters of the church, induced the emperor, 
the kings of France and England, and other princes, to attempt 
a reform of abuses, which had become altogether intolerable; 
and nothing appearing so effectual for this purpose as a general 
council, it was accordingly summoned, at the instigation of 
Sigismund, by the last chosen pope, John XXIII. who opened 
the assembly at Constance, in presence of the emperor and an 
immense number of bishops, princes, and ambassadors from 
all the christian states in the western empire. 

Amongst the first acts of this assembty, the pope was decreed 
subject to a general council, and John XXIII. was deposed for 
his crimes. To prevent his deposition, Gregory XII. tendered 
his resignation; and Benedict XIII. refusing to submit to the 
award of the council, was cast down from the summit of his 
ambition, and degraded. Martin V. was chosen in their place. 
The vanquished pontiffs struggled some time, but finding their 
efforts unavailing, they reluctantly retired from the contest. 
But this primary object secured, the council found that the 
more difficult task, the reformation of abuses, still remained. 



lxii HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

The members of the council, with this pope at their head, could 
not endure the idea of suppressing their claims, and, of conse- 
quence, abridging their wealth and power, besides subjecting 
their crimes to the scrutiny and cognizance of the civil magis- 
trate. The crafty pontiff, therefore, contrived to elude every 
attempt at reformation, by pointing out the insurmountable 
difficulties that stood in the way. Where shall this flattering 
delusion, this all-curing expedient, begin ? Where shall it stop 
short? What are the faults to be corrected? And, when all 
this has been effected, how is it possible to prevent the heretics 
from triumphing over such acknowledgment of criminality and 
abuse ? And, above all, what are we to expect as the unavoid- 
able result of all this childish imbecility, but a relaxation of 
the bonds of unity and submission amongst the people, and the 
ultimate ruin of the catholic church. These, and similar con- 
siderations, induced the pope to dissolve this assembly, after 
sitting three years and an half without doing any thing of im- 
portance, deferring the necessary work of reformation till ano- 
ther council should be called for that salutary purpose. 

In the mean time, they took care not to part without evi- 
dencing, that, together with their power, they retained also the 
inclination still to proceed in the paths of cruelty and tyrannical 
oppression; and whatever other differences might have taken 
place in the council, in this they were cordially agreed, that 
whoever had the fortitude to reproach the clergy for their licen- 
tious and immoral practices, or upbraid them with their igno- 
rance, avarice, and vices, should feel the weight of the inquisi- 
torial arm. 

John Huss and Jerome of Prague, men of the most unblem- 
ished characters, eminent for their piety, talents, and learning, 
and highly distinguished members in the university of that 
city, by the boldness of their remonstrances, and the keenness 
of their reprehensions, had rendered themselves obnoxious to 
the clerical body. Huss had especially irritated the Roman 
see, by his efforts to withdraw the university of Prague from 
the jurisdiction of Gregory XII. ; he had likewise offended the 
Germans, by maintaining the rights of the Bohemians; besides 
the strong measures he had taken in supporting the Realists, 
to whose party he belonged, against their opposers, the Nomi- 
nalists. These co-operating causes had raised such a flame, as 
rendered it dangerous for Huss and Jerome, who had been 
summoned before the council, to venture themselves amongst 
the raging host of their enemies, till fortified against danger by 
the most solemn safe-conduct from the emperor. But the cler- 
gy by their intrigues, and the bribes distributed amongst the 
members of the council and the courtiers of Sigismund, so ma- 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. lxiii 

naged matters, that these revered individuals were accused, im- 
prisoned, and, after forty days disputation, condemned to the 
flames, in defiance of the most sacred engagements. Huss was 
the first victim. On this shameful occasion, the clergy had a 
fair opportunity for exercising their implacable resentment; 
possessing also the will and inclination, they were determined 
not to let it slip through their hands. Accordingly, these up- 
right, but zealous defenders of the cause of truth and common 
right, were charged with numberless heresies. The real cause 
of their sufferings, however, was the freedom of their remarks 
on the arrogance and avarice, the superstition and tyranny, of 
their persecutors, and the alarming effects produced by their 
preaching, in alienating the minds of the people from the 
church of Rome, and circulating the condemned works of the 
English reformer Wickliff, endangering thereby the very foun- 
dation of the Roman catholic faith and dominion. 

The noble martyrs braved all their insults and their most 
exquisite tortures, since nothing short of flames could expiate 
their pretended crimes. Huss observed, " that they were burn- 
ing a goose (for so the name signifies in German), but that 
God would raise out of his ashes a swan, whose song would 
terrify these blood-thirsty vultures. Jerome was at first stag- 
gered, and induced to make some concessions; but recovering 
his fortitude, he appeared before his persecutors, as Poggius, 
the pope's secretary, who was present at the trial, relates, with 
the face of an angel, and a wisdom, and boldness of eloquence, 
altogether irresistible. But his condemnation was predetermin- 
ed; therefore the goodness of his cause, and the talents he ex- 
hibited in its defence, but hastened his execution. 

Huss was burned July 15th, 1415; and Jerome May 30th, 
1416. They were disciples of the English reformer Wickliff, 
espoused his sentiments, and circulated his works. This coun- 
cil would have joyfully treated him with the same severity; but 
lie was gone where the wicked cease from troubling, and had 
only left his bones to glut their impotent vengeance. These, 
therefore, the council ordered to be dug up and burnt, and the 
ashes thrown into the Avon. The administration of the sa- 
crament to the laity, without the cup, was one of the decrees 
of this reforming council. 

The pope wished to have nothing more to do with councils; 
but the clamours for the promised reformation, and the flame 
occasioned by the execution of Huss and Jerome, compelled the 
reluctant pontiff to summon a new council at Pavia, from 
whence it was afterward removed to Basle in Switzerland; but 
Eugenius, the successor of Martin, alarmed at their bold pro- 
ceedings, exhausted his stock of artifice to have it suspended. 



Ixiv HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

The council proceeded, however, with unwavering stedfastness^ 
to abolish some of the papal impositions; which exasperating 
the holy primate beyond all endurance, introduced such a 
quarrel, that the pope was summoned to appear before the coun- 
cil. On his part, he solemnly dissolved the assembly, and an- 
nounced a new council to meet at Ferara. Ecclesiastical thun- 
ders now again roared through the churches; the council depos- 
ed the pope, and the pope anathematized the council. Another 
pope was therefore chosen, and a fresh schism divided the Ro- 
man church. Borgia, the last who filled the papal chair in this 
century, was such a monster of cruelty and impiety, that he 
stuck at nothing calculated to enrich his bastard family; and if 
the church, under former pontiffs, had been corrupted, under his 
administration she became corruption personified. The monk- 
ish orders were become an unsufferable nuisance, a mass of cor- 
ruption, idleness, and profligacy. The persecution against he- 
resy raged beyond all bounds, and the murder of heretics was 
considered the most meritorious services, both in the sight of 
God and his immaculate vicegerent. New orders of men were 
still arising to fight the battles of superstition; but heretics also 
multiplied, in spite of all the sufferings to which they were dai- 
ly exposed, and the squadrons inlisted to hold them down, by 
argument, both physical and moral. In proportion as the 
voice of reform became louder, the inquisitors became more and 
more cruel and allert; and their bloody orgies, now universally 
practised, added a deeper gloom to the horror of the dismal 
scene. 

The Bohemians were not disposed to look over the murder of 
their apostolic chieftains, but resolved to have teachers, imitat- 
ing the virtues of their butchered Huss and Jerome, and to en- 
joy the ordinance of the Lord's supper according to its primi- 
tive institution. Many of them, therefore, retiring to a moun- 
tain they called Tabor, in spite of popes and councils worship- 
ped God according to the apostolic injunctions. A bloody war 
was raised against them, and after dreadful carnage on both 
sides, they still maintained their ground, at times retaliat- 
ing the cruelties they had so often received from the hands of 
their enemies. Unfortunately they divided amongst themselves, 
under the denominations of Calextines and Taborites, which di- 
minished their means of defence; and to confirm their separa- 
tion, the holy see made some accommodating proposals to 
the latter; which was partly accepted, but never cordially 
acted upon. The Taborites were afterwards known by the 
name of Bohemian brethren; they were numbered amongst 
the Beghards, and joined with Luther and his associates 
at the reformation. The Moravian brethren are most pro- 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 1XV 

bably a branch from this stock. Still the people, in general, 
were so absorpt in ignorance and superstition, that they 
readily received the despotic mandates of their ghostly fathers 
with great reverence, listened, and gave implicit belief, to all 
the lying miracles which the priesthood pretended to perform ; 
while any attempt to open their eyes, and bring before them 
the naked and unvarnished villanies practised against them, 
was, of all dangerous undertakings, the most peculiarly ruin- 
ous. 

The government of the church was now generally admitted 
to exist under one visible head ; and to support and perpetuate 
this absurd supposition, the pontiffs endeavoured, by all means, 
to inculcate the maxim, " That all lawful power on earth was 
derived from Christ, and that through his vicegerent the pope." 
But, as we have seen, the temporal princes greatly demurred at 
this, while the prelatical orders were much disposed to exalt the 
power and authority of a general council above that of the 
pontiff. This became an important struggle; for, although the 
clerical orders were at great pains to enslave the people, they 
would have willingly retained the power in their own hands. 
This knotty concern has never yet been adjusted in the Roman 
Catholic creed; but whoever dared so much as to insinuate, 
that the church could exist without a visible head, was taking 
the shortest road to martyrdom ; as such revolters, from the Ro- 
man jurisdiction, were sure to be attacked by the sophistry of 
the schools, and pressed down by the zeal of the mendicants 
and the clergy, supported, as they were, by the secular power 
of the princes, and the ensnaring malignity of the inquisi- 
tion. After all, their numbers were not diminished; in place 
of which, they continued to multiply, and circulate their tenets 
through every part of the christian world. What especially 
contributed to this, was the obstinate determination of the ec- 
clesiastics in power to maintain their claims; in proportion to 
the absurdity and tyrannical nature of which, was their tenacity 
in defending them. Even where abuses existed, so flagrant and 
so gross, that they bade defiance to every reasonable mode of 
vindication, they were still maintained with the most audacious 
hardihood, lest, forsooth, the heretics should find an occasion of 
triumph; and thus the overweaning attachment of the priest- 
hood, to the power and emoluments by which they had plun- 
dered the people, and wallowed so long in affluent profligacy, 
drove matters to desperation, and necessarily brought forward 
the mighty revolt they had so ardently laboured to prevent. 

The church, sinking beneath the weight of rites and ceremo- 
nies, had need to be relieved from the unsupportable load; yet, 
in place of attempting any such reformation, every pope racked 

3 i 



Ixvi HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

his invention in finding new ceremonies to distinguish his pon- 
tificate. The transfiguration, and the grant of indulgences for 
observing the festival of the immaculate conception, added to 
the enormous ceremonial of a church, the religion of which was 
become a solemn mockery, of postures, repetitions, and pagean- 
tries of dress. 

As we approach the dawn of reformation, the atrocities of 
the Roman church become more and more conspicuous. The 
flames that consumed the martyrs, at the same time cast a lu- 
minous glory around the whole scene of their sufferings, and 
made such impressions on the minds of those who witnessed 
the catastrophe, as were never to be wholly eradicated. They 
heard their dying declarations, observed their christian demean- 
our, and the triumph of their faith and patience, while shudder- 
ing with horror at the relentless cruelty of their persecutors 
and blood-thirsty executioners, which naturally pointed to the 
clergy as the moving cause. The zealous Lord Cobham, a 
chief amongst the Wicklifntes, was hanged and burnt without 
Templebar; but his sufferings served to quicken the zeal of the 
timid, and rouse their ambition to imitate such a glorious spe- 
cimen of exalted virtue. 

The repeated acts of the English parliament concerning the 
followers of Wickliff, and the councils of bishops in condemning 
his tenets and followers, demonstrate the number of those who 
openly embraced and defended them. Many of the great men 
of England warmly espoused his principles; amongst whom 
were the Duke of Lancaster and the Queen, Ann of Luxem- 
bourg; the first English poets, Gower and Chaucer, were also 
said to have been his disciples. The parliament itself at last 
remonstrated against the papal plunder; and Henry VII. reso- 
lutely resisted the usurpations of Rome, utterly shocked on 
finding his kingdom eaten up by foreign intruders into all ec- 
clesiastical benefices; but the dread of Rome still held the con- 
sciences of men in bondage; a few, and but a few, had as yet 
shaken themselves loose of these idle terrors. 

These happy beginnings were not confined to England; the 
works of Wickliff had crossed the seas, and were sought after, 
and perused on the continent with avidity. Huss and Jerome 
of Prague, as we have seen, had already received their crowns 
of martyrdom for embracing and defending them; and the Bo- 
hemians, in multitudes, adhered to the doctrines of their intre- 
pid reformers, whose works were still circulated amongst them. 
The vallies of Piedmont contained a hidden treasure, which all 
the craft of the inquisition had not been able wholly to discover, 
nor their power and malignity to destroy. 

The brevity proposed in the present sketch, forbids entering 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. IxVU 

upon all the charges brought against Wickliff and the Bohe- 
mian reformers; but a few of the leading articles may serve to 
mark the spirit of the men and their followers. They were 
compassed with infirmity like other men; but their hearts 
stedfastly adhering to the truth, they fainted not under their 
manifold afflictions, but were ready to seal their testimony with 
their blood. 

The enormities of the popish hierarchy were the great ob- 
jects against which they so fearlessly lifted up their voice; and 
the defence of these enormities more especially drew down, on 
their devoted heads, the malice and unmodified resentment of 
their enemies. But the doctrines of free grace which they 
taught, as these were equally inimical to their views and inte- 
rest, met with similar reprobation from the prelatical orders. 
Marsillius of Padua had resolutely maintained, in the face of 
the catholic church, that believers are justified by grace, and by 
grace alone; and that therefore works never were, and never 
could be, the ground of a sinner's justification. Wickliff was 
charged with teaching the same doctrine of free and unmerited 
salvation : That the church consisted of the elect only; that 
no reprobate was found in it; that its true members never fail, 
though the strength of temptations may turn them aside for a 
time, but shall assuredly obtain the end of their faith in eternal 
glory : That the Eucharist is not the real body of Christ, but 
the sign and symbol thereof: That Rome has no more right of 
jurisdiction than any other church : That the gospel alone was 
sufficient to direct the christian's faith and manners : That all 
prelatical persecution and imprisonment was antichristian ty- 
ranny : And that, in the concerns of his soul, every man had a 
right to judge for himself. The charges against Huss were si- 
milar, as may be seen in Toplady's Historic Proof. He held al- 
so, that there was no necessity for a visible head in governing 
the church, nor the least colour for such an idea in scripture. 
Thus, scattered over the christian world, a living church sub- 
sisted, which the craft and violence of men had in vain endea- 
voured to annihilate; and though the simplicity of the gospel 
was despised and trampled down by the proud and the interest- 
ed, it had taken such a hold of the mind and affections of men, 
as not to be eradicated, and waited only for a propitious mo- 
ment of opportunity, to burst forth on the right hand and on 
the left. 

The close of this, fifteenth century, as we have seen, left su- 
perstition triumphant; all power in the hands of oppressors; 
abuses grown enormous and inveterate by ages of prescription; 
a clergy corrupt beyond credibility; ignorance maintained 
amongst the people with sacred jealousy; and learning, afraid to 



Ixviil HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

pry into the mystery of iniquity established by law, and recog- 
nised by custom ; a feeble band, of pious and patriotic indivi- 
duals, scattered amongst the nations, yet united in the cause of 
religion and common right, every where hunted down by their 
adversaries, and only preserved by a gracious providence. The 
fire, however, that had been so long smothered and kept down, 
was now ready to burst into a flame, destined to consume tho 
wood, hay, and stubble of overwhelming superstition. 

After toiling through the windings of superstition, and the 
dismal regions of papal darkness, bow cheering are the rising 
beams of the Sun of Righteousness. Borgia, Julius, and Leo, 
were successively enthi'oned in pontifical majesty, and, tramp- 
ling on the prostrate world, defied the power, and despising the 
impotence of their enemies, gloried in the stability of an em- 
pire, confirmed by ages of ignorance, and supported by legions 
of monks, clergy, and inquisitors, whose cunning and cruelties 
overawed the consciences or the feelings of mankind. Not that 
the world was wholly insensible of their chains j numerous writ- 
ers had attacked the notorious abuses of the church, many prin- 
ces had complained of the encroachments of pontifical ambition, 
not a nation but had uttered its groans under the papal exac- 
tions i all, all was in vain; unmoved, in omnipotent tranquillity, 
the pontiffs, from their lofty throne, looked down, with superci- 
lious disdain, on the supplicating herd, treated their complaints 
and petitions with inattention and scorn. Armed with power 
to punish the refractory, having favours and preferments to win 
the mercenary, and silence the troublesome with the admitted 
character of being the vicar of Christ, the holy father seemed 
to sit secure in the exercise of his boundless authority, consci- 
ous, that whatever redress was requested, must come as a fa- 
vour, and only through his own hands, Maximilian the em- 
peror, and Lewis of France, attempting to form a general coun- 
cil at Pisa, only discovered the weakness of opposition, and the 
power against which they contended. The pope insultingly 
annulled their decrees, and dissolved their assemblv, treating 
their power with equal arrogance and contempt. Leo the X, 
a scholar, and a man of pleasure, the successor of Julius, and 
who presided at the lateran council, took care, not only to pre- 
vent all reform of the acknowledged abuses, but prevailed on 
Francis the first to sacrifice the liberties of the Galhcian church, 
by substituting a new arrangement, called the concordate, in 
place of the pragmatic sanction; a transaction abhorred alike by 
the French people and their priests, The prodigality and lux- 
urious magnificence of Leo, began, however, to drain the holy 
coffers, insomuch, that some expedient, for supporting his unpa- 
ralleled extravagance, behoved to be provided; and the success, 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. lxix 

formerly attending the sale of indulgences, induced his holiness 
to recur to that often tried, and ever productive mine of wealth, 
which, while it afforded an opportunity for his holiness to ma- 
nifest his paternal regard to his dear children, at the same time 
filled his pontifical exchequer, with what, of all things, Leo 
wanted the most — money ! ! The profligate examples of such a 
long succession of pontiffs could not fail to demoralize the 
clergy, particularly as their vices were winked at by their supe- 
riors, in the hopes of a reciprocity of similar kind offices. Leo 
himself is said to have been an infidel, and his sacerdotal troops 
were not likely to follow a more heavenly example than that of 
their master. The churches and monasteries overflowed with 
wealth, affording them the means of every sensual gratification; 
and both their friends and enemies agree, that these precious 
privileges were neither overlooked nor neglected. The tetter 
informed of the people could not help smiling alike at the 
adroitness of their hypocritical management, and the credulous 
stupidity that permitted them. 

The immensity of the mendicant tribes at last became a 
burden, that the church and the world could with difficulty sup- 
port; the arts and devices practised, to procure veneration for 
their several orders, and enable them to fleece the people more 
effectually, brought into operation the grossest frauds and the 
most scandalous deceptions. Sometimes they were detected, but 
much more frequently the juggle succeeded, and the ignorant 
multitude cried out, with one enraptured exclamation, a miracle ! 
a miracle ! 

The ministry of the unadulterated word and worship of God 
was no longer to be found. Any thing approaching to a simi- 
larity of such evangelical exercises, would have been branded 
with the name, and perhaps visited with the punishment, awarded 
against heresy. Every pulpit was occupied with panegyrics on 
the saints, the transcendent glory and power of the virgin, and 
the efficacy of relics; while the virtues of those of the neigh- 
bouring churches or convents, were sure to be set forth with 
all the puffing flourishes of the modern quack. The thunder- 
bolts of vengeance, forged at the purgatorial furnace, were oc- 
casionally brought forward to open the sale of their indulgen- 
ces; the excellency, the safety, and indispensable necessity of 
which, were displayed to the gaping, and almost breathless, au- 
dience, in strains of piteous and plaintive eloquence. The 
wretched people, thus bound in fetters of ignorance and super- 
stition, suffered themselves to be priest-ridden with the most ex^ 
emplary patience; while their leaders amused them with the 
rareshow of the mass, gaudy processions, and unintelligible mys* 
teries, till, like swindlers and sharpers, they succeeded in picking 



1XX HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

their pockets; and the church reaped a harvest, rich in propor- 
tion to the ignorance and consequent immorality of the times. 

As the deepest darkness of the night precedes the dawn of 
the day, so the most distressing period of the church was the 
immediate precursor of her triumphant deliverance. Although 
the terrors of the inquisition, and the slavish submission of the 
princes of Christendom, seemed immoveable pillars of the Ro- 
man see, the utter rottenness of the foundation required only a 
breath of public opinion to shake the mighty fabric to pieces. 
The silent dispensations of divine providence had also been pre- 
paring for the event, however impossible it might seem. The 
diffusion of knowledge, through the recently acquired art of 
printing, tended likewise greatly to remove the veil spread 
over the christian church. The scriptures became less and less 
inaccessible, and many now dared to read and judge for them- 
selves. The kings of the earth, without intending to separate 
from the communion of the Roman church, secretly rejoiced to 
hear of the schemes of reform everywhere spoken of, as they 
seemed well calculated to rescue their delegated sceptres from 
the all-grasping fangs of the Roman pontiffs, and their over- 
bearing legates, who, for ages, had left them only a species of 
mock-royalty, a mere shadow of sovereign power. With this 
view, they were in no haste to suppress the activity of these re- 
forming preachers, whom they supposed themselves able at any 
time to regulate and control; while the pride and security of 
the Roman see, despising the meanness of its opposers, and the 
weakness of their resources, neglected to extinguish the spark 
of reformation, till it blazed forth an unextinguishable confla- 
gration. 

Such was the general state of Christendom, when the increa- 
sing wants, and plundering rapacity of the profligate pontiff, set 
him on replenishing his exhausted exchequer. In order to pro- 
secute his pious purposes with success, orders were issued to 
the legates, wherever situated, to find out the best qualified in- 
struments to preach and dispense the rich indulgences which 
Leo X. in his paternal love, and great munificence, was dispos- 
ed to grant to all christian people who had ready money to 
purchase them, for sins of every species and dimension, 
past, present, and to come. To the labours of this extensive 
field, all the mendicant monks were invited ; and the Domini- 
cans engaged in the service with peculiar zeal and activity. 
The legates, with a view to the success of the undertaking, se- 
lected men of popular talents, unblushing effrontery, of tried 
devotion to the Roman see, and every way qualified to impose 
on the vulgar credulity. In his search after tools of this 
singular description, the archbishop of Mentz fell in with the 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. IxXl 

famous monk John Tetzel, whose craft was equalled by nothing 
but his impudence and hypocrisy. He undertook the task 
with alacrity, and performed it with astonishing success, by ex- 
alting the value of the commocjjties he was dispensing, with an 
extravagance of exaggeration, which nothing but the most bru- 
tal ignorance, and unequalled credulity, could attempt to swal- 
low down. He blazoned the virtues of the saints as transcend- 
ently glorious, and their influence and efficiency as all-power- 
ful. He proclaimed, to the greatest sinners out of hell, the im- 
mense stores of merit, now opening in the churches' repository; 
the keys of which, together with its blessed and all-saving con- 
tents, had been exclusively committed to his dispensing care and 
management. He, John Tetzel, could exceed all their wants, 
supply all their deficiencies, and cancel all their crimes. Such, 
indeed, was his power, that he could save from damnation even 
the ravisher of the blessed virgin herself; assuring his auditory, 
at the same time, that he had saved from perdition, and rescu- 
ed from purgatory, by his indulgences, a much greater number 
of souls than ever St Peter, the great predecessor of the pope, 
had converted by all the sermons he had ever delivered. The 
listening crowd heard, with astonishment and catholic confidence, 
the powerful and efficacious nature of these holy wares, and 
hurried up their money to the stage where they purchased these 
precious packets, that were to silence for ever the bawlings of 
an angry conscience, preclude the necessity of penance or pur- 
gatory, and save them from all the horrors of hell. 

In the meantime, a monk, of no extraordinary consideration, 
belonging to the order of Augustine, who, for his learning and 
talents, had been raised to the divinity chair in the academy of 
Wirtemberg, having heard the ridiculous and hyperbolical bom- 
bast of this pontifical auctioneer, resolved to check the audaci- 
ous mountebank, and not permit him tamely to propagate his 
blasphemies without rebuke. Accordingly, he challenged him, 
on ninety-five propositions, to defend himself and his employers. 
The challenger was Martin Luther, the great German Reform- 
er, of whom so much has been spoken, both by his friends and 
his enemies. 

Thus the gauntlet was thrown down, and a warfare begun, 
that has been carried on, with more or less violence and animo- 
sity, down to the present day, and, from the nature of the 
quarrel, must necessarily continue till one or other of the par- 
ties be driven from the field. Who shall obtain the triumph, 
the increasing knowledge of the age, the cry of liberty, and the 
nearly annihilated power of the Roman see, leaves no longer 
doubtful. Never was there a man better qualified for contend- 
ing with the see of Rome than this fearless and indefatigable 



lxxii HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

German. His faculties were powerful, and his memory aston- 
ishing. His mind was stored with the riches of ancient erudi- 
tion, and, what was of still greater importance, he was singular- 
ly conversant with the scriptures, and well acquainted with the 
best writings of the fathers. He was an excellent disputant; 
his voice was powerful, and the thunders of his empassioned 
eloquence darted the lightnings of his argument to the hearts 
of his confounded antagonists. Fearless, he defied all danger, 
while his unrelinquishing perseverance triumphed over every 
difficulty. The imperious pontiff, secure in his fancied omni- 
potence, despised, for a while, the solitary exertions of this 
hitherto undistinguished individual; nor did Luther himself 
either know his own strength at this time, or intend to push 
the quarrel to the extent it was afterwards carried : But when 
God will work, who shall dispute his will, or arrest the progress 
of his operations ? 

The age of violent and angry disputation had now commenc- 
ed, and the partisans were actively engaged in furbishing their 
arms. The propositions maintained by Luther, had not only 
irritated the mendicant Tetzel, but enraged the whole order of 
Dominicans, and all the zealots of the Roman church, a host 
of whom rushed into the battle, to bear down the despised monk 
with their numbers, their eloquence, and their importance. 
But Luther, whose soul was composed of very unyielding ma- 
terials, hurled back their thunders, rebutted their best arguments, 
and treated their persons and professions with sovereign con- 
tempt. And the pope, good easy man, was only roused from 
his inactivity by a dispatch from the emperor, stating that Ger- 
many was already in a flame. Luther was now commanded to 
appear before his holiness, and answer to the many and griev- 
ous charges laid against him. Aware of the danger of such an 
appearance, especially in such a place, by the influence of the 
Elector of Saxony, he had the matter referred by the pope to 
the consideration of Cajetan, his legate, who insolently com- 
manded him to submit with humility to the penance to be 
awarded by the Roman see. Luther was not to be so easily 
humbled as this angry legate seemed to suppose; but consider- 
ing that argument was unavailing, and to remain was danger- 
ous, he silently retired, having first lodged his appeal with Leo, 
when he should be made better acquainted with the merits of 
the controversy. 

The pontiff, now awakening from his dreams of security, 
issued a decree, commanding universal submission to the Ro- 
man church, and universal confidence in her power to save all 
her subjects from punishment, either in this or the world to 
come. And after a number of unavailing attempts to reclaim 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. lxxiii 

this apostatizing- child of the church, a bull of excommunication 
against his person was fulminated, with a sentence of condem- 
nation, consigning his writings to the flames, but allowing him 
sixty days to weigh the consequences, and recant. Indignant 
at the sentence, and having already made up his mind on the 
subject of controversy, Luther came to the resolution of part- 
ing for ever with the Roman church; and, that he might do so 
with dignity and exemplary confidence, he called together a 
vast concourse of people, consisting of all ranks, in whose pre- 
sence the pope's bull was brought forth, and, with great solem- 
nity, burnt by the hands of the hangman. The boldness of 
this measure astonished the christian world, while it confound- 
ed the pride, and, beyond all bounds, exasperated the spirit of 
the yet unhumbled pontiff. Accordingly, the sixty days having 
expired, a second bull sealed the final damnation of this per- 
verse heretic, and met the fate of its predecessor. 

Amid the pressure of his numerous avocations, and the ma- 
lignity of a world in arms against him and the doctrines he 
was circulating and defending, it was no small comfort for Lu- 
ther to know, that many excellent men, even in the first ranks 
of literature, were anxious for, and ready to co-operate with 
him, in obtaining a reformation from the disgusting absurdities 
of the church. Nor was it less pleasing to perceive, that the 
princes of the empire, papists as they were, secretly rejoiced at 
the prospect of curtailing the pontifical authority; while the 
Elector of Saxony, who had embraced the doctrines taught by 
Luther, powerfully contributed to their protection. 

The emperor Charles, hard pressed by the pope to seize and 
execute this incorrigible heretic, and unwilling to disoblige his 
friend the Elector of Saxony, persuaded the pope to let Luther 
be judged by a German tribunal, composed of the princes, secu- 
lar and ecclesiastic, to be held at Worms. Fenced with a safe- 
conduct, thither the culprit repaired, and, before that august 
assembly, boldly appeared in person, rejoicing at the public 
opportunity afforded him for pleading the cause of God and his 
country. His friends were afraid his natural impetuosity might 
drive him beyond the line of prudence, yet he charmed them, as 
much as he confounded his adversaries, by the firmness and 
temperance of his defence, as well as by the eloquence and force 
of his arguments. The emperor, who was interested in pleas- 
ing the pontiff, endeavoured, by every soothing consideration, 
to reconcile Luther to the holy see; but finding him inflexible, 
he threatened him with all the vengeance of Rome and the em- 
pire. To which Luther coolly replied, " that so soon as his doc- 
trines were proved erroneous, or his conduct criminal against 
Christ and his church, he should testify the deepest humilia- 

3 K 



Ixxiv HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

tion ; but till then, no man had a right to censure or condemn 
him." The emperor, too honourable to violate his safe-conduct,, 
permitted him to depart, though the unanimous voice of the 
diet had condemned him to the punishment awarded to all ob- 
stinate heretics; subjecting to the same severity all who should 
entertain, support, or conceal him; adding, by a solemn deci- 
sion, that the pope was the sole judge of religious controversies 
in the christian world. A tenet so expressly in the teeth of the 
Germanic liberties and the councils of the church, that num- 
bers, otherwise little concerned about the fate of such an in- 
considerable individual, were shocked with its absurdity. In 
the mean time, Frederick the Elector, afraid that Luther might 
fall into the hands of men who thirsted after his blood, con- 
trived to seize him on his way back, and, by men in masks, 
who were in the secret, had him carried to the castle of Wit- 
temberg, where he remained ten months, hid from all pursuit 
and discovery. In this retirement he translated the New Tes- 
tament, and carried on an active correspondence with his re- 
forming friends, establishing their faith, and animating their 
hopes. 

Luther's translation of the bible was now circulating through 
Germany with incredible rapidity, and producing powerful ef- 
fects on the minds of the people. The Saxons, and many of 
their neighbours, had taken the liberty of reforming themselves. 
The mass was abolished; the convents were evacuated, and 
celebacy generally abandoned by the clergy. Amongst an 
army of authors, now pouring their shafts of argument and in- 
vective against this presumptuous reformer, Henry VIII. of 
England graciously condescended to take his place, and, in the 
overflowings of his zeal for the cause of Rome, undertook to 
write a refutation of Luther's Babylonish Captivity, with a de- 
fence of the Romish church and the catholic faith. This royal 
volume procured for Henry the perfumed rose of papal bene- 
diction, besides, what he gloried in the most, the mighty title, 
Defender of the Faith, still retained by the kings of England. 
It met, however, with a different reception from Luther, who, 
looking down with contempt on the puny labours of this monar- 
chial champion, treated both the work and its author with an 
asperity which numbers condemned, but which Luther vindi- 
cated, by stating, that even a king, in controversy, must stand 
or fall with the merit or demerit of his work. 

Sensible of the incurable obstinacy of Rome, John, the suc- 
cessor of Frederick the Elector, took a very decided part in the 
controversy, and, by his own authority, undertook the regula- 
tion of all ecclesiastic concerns within the bounds of his own 
jurisdiction. Luther and Melanchthon were the authors of a 






THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. IxXV 

church directory for Saxony and its dependencies; and the 
churches were forthwith furnished with faithful pastors, as far 
as these could be procured. Many of the princes of the empire, 
and the free cities, followed the example of the Elector; and 
thus a complete Lutheran establishment was erected through a 
considerable portion of the empire, and the yoke of Rome 
broken from off the galled necks of the people. 

The temporal, as well as the spiritual interests of the pope 
and the emperor, roused their activity in arresting the progress 
of these organized and otherwise formidable malcontents. 
The Lutherans, who had penetrated the designs of their adver- 
saries, resolved on a plan of union, in case the matter should 
call for an armed defence; and the emperor, finding them de- 
termined to risk an appeal to arms, prudently acquiesced in 
holding a diet at Spire, where it was agreed, that every prince 
should regulate the concerns of the church throughout his do- 
minions, according as he thought fit, till such time as a coun- 
cil of the church could be held to decide this very important 
controversy. The pope proposed Trent for the meeting of the 
council. The protestant princes objected to the place, and also 
to the nomination of the members by the pope; but the empe- 
ror and catholic princes assenting, the letters of convocation 
were issued; and the protestant princes refusing to attend, 
Charles, supposing himself sufficiently powerful, determined to 
compel them, and both sides prepared for battle. Amid the 
din of these preparations, Luther took farewell of this scene of 
inveterate animosity, deploring the miseries he sadly feared, 
and exhorting to prayer, patience, and mutual forbearance, as 
the fittest weapons of spiritual warfare. 

The council of Trent met. The protestants disclaimed their 1 
authority. The emperor prepared to enforce their decrees by 
arms. The Saxon Elector and the prince of Hesse boldly pre- 
vented him, and, by penetrating into Bavaria, were ready to 
force his camp at Ingolstadt, when, by an ambitious stratagem, 
Maurice, nephew to the Elector, fell suddenly on Saxony, and 
forced his uncle to leave Bavaria to defend his own dominions. 
The cause of reformation, to all human appearance, was now 
lost. The protestant leaders were obliged to consent to what- 
ever might be the decision of the council of Trent; but the 
plague breaking out at that place, the members of the council 
dispersed; nor could the emperor, by all his influence, persuade 
the pope to call them back to their duty, so terrified was his 
holiness lest they should establish their claims of superiority. 
Charles, however, was determined to mortify the pope, by show- 
ing him that he could settle the business without him. He 
therefore ordered a formula to be drawn up, that he imagined 



IXXVI HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

might please all parties, in which were a few concessions to the 
protestants; such as restoring the cup and the marriage of the 
clergy. This done, he called the diet, and, without discussion, 
or taking the voice of a majority, he despotically ordered the 
same to he the rule till a general council should otherwise 
direct. The formulary, however, pleased none of the parties. 

In the mean time, the politic Maurice saw through the de- 
sign of the emperor, to erect his power on the humiliation of 
the princes]; he was also glad of an opportunity to redeem his 
lost credit with the protestant princes, amongst whom he still 
professed to numher himself. Being also provoked at the em- 
peror for detaining in captivity his father-in-law, the prince of 
Hesse, he watched for an opportunity, and finding that Julius, 
the new pontiff, had been prevailed upon to re-assemble the 
council at Trent, and that the emperor was preparing to com- 
pel the reformers to accede implicitly to whatever decrees they 
might resolve, Maurice dared to qualify his consent with condi- 
tions; which the archbishop of Mentz considered so derogatory 
to the papal authority, that he refused to enter them on the 
register of the diet. 

In the mean time, the protestants set about preparing for 
the worst; and Maurice, who had hitherto amused the emperor 
by his apparent submission, prepared for efficaciously resisting 
and deranging his schemes of ambition. Accordingly, the em- 
peror, in the midst of his imaginary triumph, was surprised at 
Inspruck with the sudden approach of a mighty army under 
Maurice, who had leagued with himself many princes, together 
with the king of France, and rushed upon the unsuspecting 
and unprepared emperor; who, to save his army and himself 
from captivity, was glad to obtain his safety by the pacification 
of Passau, which contained a solemn grant of perfect liberty to the 
princes and the protestant cause. The interim was revoked, 
and all edicts against the Lutherans annulled ; the prisoners set 
at liberty, and a certain number of protestants admitted into 
the council chamber of Spire, that impartial justice might 
be administered to both parties. And to confirm all these con- 
cessions, a diet was to be held at Augsburg; which accordingly 
met, and, after long deliberations, the conditions were sanc- 
tioned, and received the name of the Religious Peace. The 
states and free cities were to be for ever unmolested in the ex- 
ercise of whatever form of religion they chose to establish; all 
persecutions and animosities were to cease, and the disturbers 
of this harmony to be severely punished. 

Henry VIII. applied to Rome for a divorce from his queen 
Catherine, that he might make room for Ann Boleyn. The 
duplicity of the pope, and the procrastinating manoeuvres of liis 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. lxxvii 

legate Campeggio, offended him to that degree, that he threw 
off the Roman yoke, and renounced for ever the papal jurisdic- 
tion. But the hopes with which this pleasing circumstance 
had inspired the reformers, were sadly disappointed, for, not- 
withstanding that Henry declared his kingdom free from the 
pontifical supremacy, he had not renounced the doctrines of 
the popish church, which were too congenial with his tyranni- 
cal disposition to forego; he had merely rohhed the pope, that 
he might exercise his power, possess his infallibility, and rule 
his people with a rod of iron, more intolerably tyrannical than 
Rome herself. Proud and overbearing in his disposition, the 
least deviation from the rules he had prescribed, particularly 
regarding his right to regulate the concerns of the church of 
England, was sure to subject the unfortunate malcontents to the 
flames of Smithfield, whatever might be their creed, popish, 
protestant, or presbyterian. Under such a capricious monarch, 
no man's life was in safety; even Cranmer, who especially pos- 
sessed the favour of this tyrant, held his life, on some occasions, 
by a very precarious tenure. But the death of the unfeeling des« 
pot introduced a more propitious order of things. Edward VI. 
succeeded his father when very young, and, under the faithful 
tuition of Cranmer, soon became acquainted with the doctrines 
of the reformation, which he cordially embraced and defended; 
and, with the advice of his judicious tutor, had the churches 
forthwith filled with faithful pastors, wherever these could be 
procured. Thus the unhallowed mixtures of the former reign 
gave way to a more liberal and evangelical system; and Eng- 
land enjoyed, under his mild administration, a short period of 
happiness and repose; during which, the cause of truth was so 
firmly fixed in the minds of the people, that all the fires kindled 
at Smithfield, Oxford, and elsewhere, were unable to eradicate 
or destroy. 

The reformation, thus happily established in England, it 
was impossible that Scotland could long remain an idle spec- 
tator of the many important changes with which she was sur- 
rounded. Numbers of Scotsmen had returned from foreign 
countries, where the reformation was considerably advanced, 
and had brought along with them the books and tenets of the 
reformers; which, spreading by degrees amongst the people, 
prepared their minds for embracing the first opportunity to 
break asunder the cords that bound the nation to the papal ju- 
risdiction, and the people to the rapacity of a luxurious and ir- 
rational priesthood. 

But although the tenets of the reforming churches abroad 
were especially serviceable in animating the Scottish populations 
at this eventful crisis, we are not to imagine that the light of 



lxxviii HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

truth had been totally extinguished in that part of the island. 
On the contrary, it seems pretty clear, from a number of cir- 
cumstances mentioned in the history of the country and the 
church, that the Culdees, who nourished at an early period, had 
not been wholly extirpated, even down to the thirteenth cen- 
tury, when the simplicity of the gospel, which they maintained, 
was farther corroborated, strengthened, and extended, by similar 
opinions held forth by the Waldenses, at that period spreading 
through the nations of Europe with uncommon rapidity; and 
that, shortly after this, the same witnessing remnant were far- 
ther reinforced by the numerous adherents of Wickliff, the il- 
lustrious English reformer. But nothing had hitherto given 
such a mortal blow to the idolatrous worship of Rome as the 
martyrdom of Huss and Jerome of Prague; which, in place of 
stopping the progress of the reformation, had the effect of arrest- 
ing and rivetting the attention of the serious, in every country, 
to the cruelty, injustice, and hypocrisy exercised by the papal 
authorities over a debased and prostrated world; and all this 
with the obvious design of perpetuating a system of ignorance, 
superstition, and slavery, by which they might plunder the 
christian world with impunity, and support the insatiable crav- 
ings of a priesthood, whose lives were become a scandal, not 
only to religion, but also to every thing like decency, truth, or 
common honesty. Such sentiments began to be pretty gene- 
rally expressed, and the veneration for the priesthood was los- 
ing ground in almost every quarter of the church. It was 
particularly so in Scotland. But although several of her kings 
had manfully, and on some occasions successfully, resisted the 
encroachments of the Roman authority, none of them, as yet, 
had attempted to break the disgraceful chain. The priesthood, 
therefore, though sunk in public estimation, still retained their 
power, which they began to exercise with a rigour of severity, 
that alarmed the people to that degree, that a leader, adequate 
to the importance of the enterprise, was only wanted to rally 
the best portion of the community under the banner of the re- 
formation. In this state of anxiety and suspence, the fearless 
and intrepid John Knox arose; and having, by the power of his 
eloquence, united the friends of reform into one great body, bore 
down every opposition that stood in his way, overturned the 
whole popish hierarchy, and ultimately established a presbyte- 
rian form of government in its place. 

The Belgic Provinces being nearer the scene of action, 
early received the light of the reformation ; and no country suf- 
fered more for their adherence to its principles. Philip of 
Spain, their bigotted master, had resolved to extirpate indiscri- 
minately all who refused to subject themselves to Rome. His 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. lxxix 

merciless general, the Duke of Alva, and the accursed inquisi- 
tion which he had set up in the provinces, poured out their 
blood like water. The intolerable cruelties exercised against 
this harmless people, produced a revolt that divided the pro- 
vinces, one part of whom put their enemies to defiance, main- 
tained their liberties, and triumphantly erected a republic, under 
the famous William of Orange. 

Spain had also received some cheering rays of the reforma- 
tion. The learned doctors brought by the emperor to combat 
Luther, caught the heretical contagion from his lips; and re- 
turning to their country, like Paul, began to preach the faith they 
had been deputed to destroy. But there the bigotry of the 
Spanish monarchs, and the superstition of the priests, set all 
their machinery a working to extinguish the spark that threat- 
ened a general conflagration; and, after torrents of blood had 
been shed, and innumerable martyrdoms effected, the light of 
truth was utterly extinguished, by the instrumentality of racks, 
gibbets, and other engines of human destruction; and that re- 
gion, including Portugal, has ever since been, more than any 
other christian country, left to grope their way through dark- 
ness and the shadow of death. 

Italy shared nearly the same fate; and though Naples reject- 
ed the inquisition, the persecution of the reformers was equally 
cruel and inveterate. Ochino and Peter Martyr exerted them- 
selves with singular zeal, not altogether without success; but 
were unable to effect any general change. At last, compelled to 
fly for their lives, they took refuge in foreign lands, and water- 
ed the garden of strangers with that celestial dew, which their 
deluded countrymen forbade them to drop on their own. Thus, 
through all the regions that remained under the pontifical au- 
thority, superstition, craft, and cruelty, were put into requisi- 
tion; and all the terrors of purgatory, heaven, and hell, con- 
jured up to terrify men into the obedience of the holy mother 
church, insomuch, that from the summit of the Alps, to the ex- 
tremity of Calabria, the protestant name was obliterated. 

Thus the mighty rent in the christian church left the con- 
tending parties nearly balanced. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, 
Brandenburg, Prussia, England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, 
all protestant governments. Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Belgic 
provinces under Spain, all popish governments. Germany, 
with its vast dependencies, divided, and nearly poised every 
state, having part of each ; in some tolerated, in others persecut- 
ed. Switzerland also divided the preponderance on the side of 
the protestants. And France, more than once on the equili- 
brium, and ready to change its dominant religion, had at last 
returned to the house of bondage, but with millions of its in- 
habitants firm in the protestant faith. 



IxXX HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 

In numbers the catholics were still triumphant; while the pro* 
testants, by separating into two great bodies, with other subdi* 
visions, rather diminished their power and influence. Luther 
and Melanchthon at the head of the one party, with the Augs- 
burg confession, and GEcolampadius and Calvin at the head of 
the other. These also were pretty nearly balanced. Luther- 
anism generally prevailed in the north. Denmark, Sweden, 
Norway, and the greater part of the German empire, held by 
the Augsburg confession; whilst the British islands, Holland, 
Switzerland, Geneva, and France, adopted the confession of 
faith, since denominated the reformed or calvinistic. 

In tracing the outlines of the church's history, we have tra- 
velled through scenes of sorrow the most agonizing, as well as 
of joy and exultation : We have seen the regions of darkness il- 
luminated with the light of life and immortality ; the habita- 
tions of cruelty transformed to dwellings of righteousness, peace, 
and joy ; the church extending her empire on the right hand 
and on the left ; the college of fishermen triumphing over the 
schools of philosophy ; the weak things of the world confound- 
ing the mighty; pagan idolatry annihilated, and the cross of 
Christ triumphant. We have likewise beheld a little cloud 
overspread the heavens and obscure the sun, so that men walk- 
ed in darkness at noon-day : We have seen cruelty personified, 
a mongral power enthroned in terrible majesty, and surround- 
ed with the various engines of human destruction, racks, gib- 
bets, faggots, and chains, drunk with the blood of the saints, 
and desolating the world with a sceptre of iron. But we have 
also seen, that the day-star, breaking through the dismal gloom, 
discovered the hideous monster, and pointed him out as a pro- 
per mark for the arrows of the mighty, who sorely shot at him, 
and covered him with incurable wounds. 

We now proceed with the lives of our most distinguished 
reformers. 



SELECT MEMOIRS. 



JOHN WICKLIFF, 

The first English Reformer. 

John Wickliff, or De Wickliffe, was born in the year 
1324, at a village of the same name, situated near Rich-* 
mond in Yorkshire, but now extinct. He was early sent 
to Oxford, and at first admitted commoner of Queen's Col- 
lege, and afterwards at Merton, where he became fellow. 
Merton college, at this time, was the best seminary in the 
university for great and learned men; and the following emi- 
nent individuals were his contemporaries at this celebrated 
seat of learning: Walter Burley, called the plain doctor; 
William Occam, called the singular doctor; Thomas Brad- 
wardine, the profound doc-tor; Simon Mepham, and Simon 
Islip; which last three succeeded one another as archbishops of 
Canterbury; William Rede, an excellent Mathematician, and 
Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English poetry. Wickliff was 
afterwards called Dr. Evangelicus, or the Gospel Doctor, 
from his close application to the study of the holy scriptures, in 
which he took great delight. He was soon distinguished among 
his illustrious contemporaries for the vivacity of his genius, 
the elegance of his wit, and the strength of his reasoning. He 
was celebrated as a philosopher and a divine to that degree, that 
men of mediocrity considered him something more than human. 
He had acquired a thorough knowledge of the civil and canon 
law, the study of which, at that period, had been much neglect- 
ed, as well as the municipal laws of his own country, in which 
he was an able proficient. He not only studied and commented 
on the scriptures, but also translated them into his own lan- 
3 l 



82 MEMOIR OF 

guage, and wrote homilies on several passages, and was well ac- 
quainted with the writings of St. Austin, St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, 
and St. Gregory, the four fathers of the Latin church. He was 
thirty-six years of age, however, before he had an opportunity 
of exerting his excellent talents, or attracting the public ob- 
servation. 

The mendicant friars established at Oxford in 1230, had 
been extremely troublesome to the university, and occasioned 
considerable inquietude, both to the chancellor and scholars, by 
encroaching on their privileges, and setting up an exempt juris- 
diction. These preaching friars laid hold on every opportunity 
to entice the students from the colleges, and into their convents, 
which greatly deterred the people from sending their children 
to the university. To remove this evil, an act of parliament, 
passed in 1366, prohibiting them from receiving any scholar 
under the age of eighteen; and empowering the king to adjust 
all controversies between them and the university. Still the 
friars, audaciously disregarding the determination of parliament, 
persevered in their offensive courses. Wickliff distinguished 
himself, on this occasion, by the boldness and zeal with which 
he attacked their errors and usurpations; while they endeavour- 
ed to defend their mendicant profession by asserting, that the 
poverty of Christ and his apostles made them possess all things 
in common, and beg for a livelihood. This mendicant trade was 
first opposed by Richard Kilmyngton, dean of St. Paul's, then 
by the archbishop of Armagh, and afterwards by Wickliff, 
Thorsby, Bolton, Hereford, Bryts, and Norris, who openly op- 
posed the system at Oxford, and made the friars ashamed of 
their ignorance and audacity. Wickliff wrote with an ease and 
elegance unknown in that age, especially in the English lan- 
guage, of which he is not improperly considered amongst the 
first improvers. The following specimen will shew what im- 
provements have taken place, particularly in the orthography, 
since his day : In one of his tracts, where he exposes the friars 
for seducing the students of the university into their convents, 
he goes on to say, that " Freres drawen children fro Christ's 
religion into their private order, by hypocrisie, lesings, and 
steling; for they, tellen that their order is more holy than any 
other, that they shullen have higher degree in the bliss of hea- 
ven than other men that heen not therein, and seyn that men 
of their order shullen never come to hell, but shullen dome 
other men with Christ at domes-day." He wrote and pub- 
lished several tracts against sturdy beggars and idle beggary. 
In one of which he observes, that " There were abundance of 
poor people in the world prior to the existence of the mendicant 
orders; that their numbers had increased, and were still in- 



JOHN WICKLIFF. 83 

creasing, while these indolent and impudent beggars, roaming 
from house to house, took advantage of the piety and simplicity 
of the people, and were snatching the morsel of charity from 
the famishing mouths of the aged and the infirm. That their 
vows of poverty amounted to a declaration, on their part, that 
they were determined to lead a life of indolence and idleness; 
and that whoever might be hungry? they should be fed at the 
expence of the community, and riot on the earnings of indus- 
trious poverty." 

He disputed with a friar, on the subject of idle beggary, be- 
fore the duke of Gloucester, to whom he sent an account of 
both their arguments, addressing his grace in these words, " To 
you, lord, who herde the disputasion, be geve the fyle to rubbe 
away the rust in either partye." By these controversies, Wick- 
liif acquired such a reputation in the university, that, in 1361, 
he was advanced to master of Baliol college: and four years 
after, made warden of Canterbury-hall, founded by Simon de 
Islip, archbishop of Canterbury, in 1361. The letters of insti- 
tution, by which the archbishop appointed Wickliff to this 
wardenship, are dated the fourteenth of December 1365, in 
which he is mentioned as "a person in whose fidelity, circum- 
spection, and industry, his grace very much confided, and one 
on whom he had fixed his eyes for that place, on account of the 
honesty of his life, his laudable conversation, and knowledge of 
letters." Wickliff performed the duties of his ofiice to the satis- 
faction, and with the approbation of all concerned, till the 
death of the archbishop in April 1366, when the archiepiscopal 
dignity was conferred on Simon Langham, bishop of Ely, who 
had been a monk, and was much inclined to favour the religious 
against the seculars. The monks of Canterbury, calculating 
on the frater feelings of the archbishop, applied to Langham to 
eject Wickliff from his wardenship, and the other seculars from 
their fellowships, alleging that, according to the original insti- 
tution, the warden ought to be a monk, nominated by the prior 
and chapter of Canterbury, and appointed by the archbishop, 
but that Wickliff had obtained it by craft. 

Accordingly, Wickliff and three other seculars were ejected, 
and a mandate issued, requiring their obedience to Woodhall as 
their warden. This they refused, as being contrary to the oath 
they had taken to the founder; and Langham sequestrated the 
revenue, and carried off the books and other things which the 
founder, by his will, had left to tho hail. 

Wickliff and his suffering companions appealed to the pope^ 
the archbishop replied; and the pope commissioned cardinal 
Andruynus to examine and determine the matter. In 1370, 
the cardinal ordained, bv a definitive sentence, which was con- 



84 MEMOIR OF 

firmed by the pope, That none hut the monks of Christ church, 
Canterbury, ought to remain in the college called Canterbury- 
hall; that the seculars should be all expelled; that Woodhall, 
and the other monks who were deprived, should be restored; 
and that perpetual silence should be imposed on Wickliff > and 
his associates. Against such a powerful combination, Wickliff 
and three poor clerks formed but a feeble opposition; the de- 
cree, pursuant to the papal bull, was rigorously executed, and 
the munificent intentions of the founder frustrated by these 
arbitrary proceedings. 

While this dispute was carrying on, king Edward had a no- 
tice from pope Urban, that he intended to summon him before 
his court at Avignon, to answer for his default of not perform- 
ing the homage that king John had acknowledged to the Ro- 
man see, and for refusing to pay the tribute of 700 marks year- 
ly, granted by that prince to the pope. This subject was dis- 
cussed in parliament, where it was determined to oppose the 
arbitrary claim with all the energy of the country. Here the 
pope prudently stopped short; nor has his successors, ever since, 
attempted to revive the odious claim. A monk, however, more 
daring than his brethren, ventured to defend the justice and 
propriety of the pontifical demand; to which defence Wickliff 
replied, and proved that the resignation of the crown, and the 
tribute promised by John, could neither prejudice the nation, 
or obligate the present king, inasmuch as the transaction was 
done without the consent of parliament. This especially pro- 
cured for Wickliff the bitter resentment of the pope, but intro- 
duced him to the knowledge of the court, and particularly to 
the duke of Lancaster, who took him under his patronage. At 
this time Wickliff styled himself peculiarus regis clericus, or the 
king's own chaplain; but, in order to avoid the personal injury 
intended him by his adversaries, he professed himself an obe- 
dient son of the Roman church. The reputation he had ac- 
quired received no injury from his expulsion from Canterbury- 
hall; the obvious partiality of the transaction rather pointed 
him out as a meritorious, but much-injured individual; and 
Wickliff was soon after presented, by favour of the duke of 
Lancaster, to the living of Lutterworth, in the diocese of Lin^ 
coin ; where he published, in his writings and sermons, certain 
opinions, which, because they were at variance with the doc- 
trines of the day, were considered as novel or heretical. 

Wickliff not having explicitly declared his sentiments till 
after losing his wardenship, his enemies have taken occasion to 
accuse him of acting from a spirit of revenge from the injuries 
he had received. « I shall not," says Rapin, " undertake to 
clear him of this charge, God alone sees into the hearts of men| 



JOHN WICKLIFF. 85 

it is rashness, therefore, either to accuse or excuse them, with 
regard to the motives of their actions. I s'hall only take notice, 
that his hitterest enemies have never taxed him with any im- 
moralities. He was turned out of his wardenship by the court 
of Rome; and a man must he of a very disinterested way of 
thinking, who would not resent such notorious partiality. 
Moreover, the spirit of the times was no small inducement to 
the measures he pursued." " I must, however," says Mr. Guth- 
rie, " do Wickliff the justice, which has not been done him be- 
fore, of observing, that he seems to have maintained his reform- 
ing opinions even before he was turned out of his rectorship." 
This is the more to his honour, that it comes from an author 
unfriendly to his memory. The same opinion is further con- 
firmed by the ingenious Mr Gilpin ; and Wickliff 's tract, en- 
titled, The Last Age of the Church, published fourteen years 
before his expulsion, leaves the matter no longer doubtful. In 
1372 he took his degree as doctor of divinity, and read lectures 
in it with very great applause. So much was his authority re- 
garded, and his opinion respected in the schools, that he was 
considered as an oracle. In these lectures he boldly exposed 
the fooleries and superstitions of the friars; he charged them 
with holding fifty heresies; he exhibited their corruptions, 
tore off the veil of pretended piety that covered their immoral 
and licentious lives, and lashed their beggary with unsparing 
severity. The pope still continued to dispose of the dignities 
and ecclesiastical benefices of the English church as he thought 
fit, a large proportion of which were bestowed on Frenchmen, 
Italians, and other aliens, who had their revenues remitted 
abroad, to the great loss of the nation. The parliament com- 
plained to the king, who ordered an exact survey of all the ec- 
clesiastical dignities and benefices, throughout his dominions, 
that were in the hands of aliens. The enormous amount aston- 
ished the king, who appointed seven ambassadors to treat with 
the pope on this delicate subject, and Dr. Wickliff was the 
second person mentioned in the order. The commission was 
met at Burges by the pope's nuncio, two bishops and a provost, 
who, after consulting two years, agreed that the pope should 
forego the reservations of benefices. But all treaties with that 
corrupt court were useless. The very next year the parliament 
had to complain that the treaty had been infracted; and a long 
bill was brought in against the Roman usurpations, which were 
considered the cause of all the plagues, injuries, famine, and 
poverty, under which the nation groaned. The tax paid to the 
pope was calculated to amount to five times the sum paid in 
taxes to the king; and it was roundly asserted, that when God 
gave his sheep to the pope, it was for the purpose of being pas- 
tured, not to be fleeced, and far less to be flead. 



86 MEMOIR OF 

The doctor was, by this time, better acquainted with the pride, 
avarice, ambition, and tyranny of the pope, whom he designa- 
ted the proud priest of Rome, Antichrist, the most accursed of 
clippers and purse-kervers. Nor did he spare the corruption 
that prevailed among the prelates and inferior clergy? asserting 
that the abomination of desolation originated in the pride, pro- 
fusion, and profligacy of a perverse clergy. Of prelates, he 
says, " O Lord, what token of mekeness and forsaking of 
worldly riches is this, a prelate, as an abbot or priour, that is 
dead to the world, and pride and vanity thereof, to ride with 
fourscore horse, with harness of silver and gold, and to spend, 
with earls and barons, and their poor tenants, both thousand 
marcs and pounds, to meyntene a false plea of the world, and 
forbare men of their rights." But Wickliff sufficiently experi- 
enced the persecuting animosity of those men he thus attempted 
to reform. 

The monks complained to the pope that Wickliff had opposed 
his claim to the homage and tribute due from the English na- 
tion, and supported the royal supremacy; and, moreover, 
charged him with nineteen articles of heresy, which they had 
carefully extracted from his public lectures and sermons; all 
which were forwarded to his holiness. As these charges are 
inserted in the Introductory Sketch, we shall only notice their 
general import in this place, namely, That the true church is 
one, and composed of the predestinated to eternal life; that re- 
probates, though they be in, are not of this true church; that 
the eucharist, after consecration, is not the real body of Christ, 
but a sign or symbol thereof; that the church of Rome is no 
more the head of this true church, than any other church is her 
head; that Peter had no more authority given him than any 
other of the apostles; that the pope had no more power than 
another priest in exercising the keys; that the gospel was suffi- 
cient to direct a christian in the conduct of life; that neither 
popes or prelates had any right to imprison or punish men for 
their opinions, but that every man had a right to think for 
himself. 

This was laying the axe to the root of the tree. It went to 
exempt the members of the church from corporeal punishment 
under ecclesiastic laws, and, on the other hand, to remove the 
exemption of clergymen, and the goods of the church, from the 
power of the civil magistrate. Such are the heresies with 
which this famous reformer was charged; and, if we consider 
for a moment the circumstances under which this noble stand 
for the rights of men, and the purity of faith and manners, was 
made, we shall find more cause of astonishment at what was 
attempted, than surprise that his reprehensions were not further 
extended. 



JOHN WICKLIFF. 8? 

Wickliff had now opened the eyes of the people, who began 
to think the moment they could see; to which the example of 
the duke of Lancaster and lord Henry Percy, earl marshal, 
added considerable excitement, by taking him, and the cause 
he defended, under their particular protection and patronage. 
All this alarmed the court of Rome, and Gregory XI. issued a 
number of bulls against this gigantic heretic, all dated the 
twenty-second of May 1377. One was addressed to the archbishop 
of Canterbury and the bishop of London, a second to the king, 
and a third to the university of Oxford. In the first bull, 
addressed to the prelates, the pope tells them, that he was 
informed Wickliff had rashly proceeded to that detestable degree 
of madness, as not to be afraid to assert, and publicly preach, 
such propositions as were erroneous and false, contrary to the 
faith, and threatening to subvert and weaken the estate of the 
whole church; he therefore required them to apprehend and 
imprison him, by his authority, to take his confession concerning 
his propositions and conclusions, and transmit the same to Rome, 
also whatever he should say or write by way of introduction 
or proof. Of the king, he requested his patronage and assistance 
to the bishops in the prosecution. But the king died before 
his bull reached England, and the university treated their's with 
contempt, and protected Wickliff; who was also powerfully 
protected by the duke of Lancaster and lord Percy. These 
noblemen avowed their determination not to suffer him to be 
imprisoned; neither as yet was there any act of parliament 
empowering the bishops to imprison heretics without the royal 
assent. But the delegated prelates issued their mandate to the 
chancellor of the university of Oxford, commanding him to 
cite Wickliff to appear before them, in the church of St. Paul, 
London, in thirty days. 

In the mean time, the first parliament of Richard II. met at 
Westminster, where the important question, Whether it was 
lawful to retain the tribute, and refuse the homage, claimed by 
the pope from the king and the English nation, was, after much 
discussion, submitted to the decision of Dr. Wickliff; who 
declared the retention wise and warrantable. 

The day appointed for WicklifFs examination arrived, when 
he appeared at St. Paul's, attended by tlie duke of Lancaster 
and lord Percy. His learning, talents, and integrity, had procur- 
ed him the friendship and good opinion of these illustrious no- 
blemen, who assured him he had nothing to fear in appearing 
before the bishops, who were mere children, and ignorants, com- 
pared with himself; that he might therefore make his defence 
with the utmost confidence. An immense concourse of people 
blocked up the passage, so that there was great difficulty in en- 



88 MEMOIR OF 

tering the church. The manner of their entrance, with a train 
of attendants, was highly offensive to the bishop of London, to 
whom it appeared more like a triumph than a trial. The court 
was held in the chapel, where a number of prelates and a few 
noblemen attended. Wickliff, according to custom, stood up 
to hear what was charged against him. The lord marshal would 
have him seated; the bishop of London opposed the proposition. 
The duke of Lancaster, in a warm reply, threatened to humble 
the pride of all the prelates in England ; the bishop, making an 
animated and rather sarcastic reply, the duke threatened to 
drag him out of the church by the hair of his head, and in an in- 
stant all was uproar and confusion. The Londoners would re- 
venge the insult offered to their bishop; the noblemen treated 
the citizens with disdain, and carried off their protogee in tri- 
umph. 

The duke of Lancaster was made president of the council, 
and the bishops, enraged at the treatment they had received, as 
well as to please the pontiff, would have gladly exercised the 
utmost severities against this audacious heretic; but they were 
cautious in drawing down the resentment of his powerful pro- 
tectors. He was summoned, however, a second time before 
them at Lambeth, where he appeared, and had a very different 
reception from the good citizens of London, who now rushed 
into the chapel to encourage the Doctor, and intimidate his ad- 
versaries. Wickliff seemed willing to give the prelates some sort 
of satisfaction, and presented a paper, wherein he explained the 
several conclusions with which he was charged. It is more 
than probable, that an explication so general would not have 
satisfied the delegates, if the king's mother had not sent Sir 
Lewis Clifford to forbid their proceeding to any definitive sen- 
tence against him. On receiving this message, the delegates 
were utterly confounded; and, as their own historian relates, the 
asperity of " their speech became as smooth as oil," though burn- 
ing with rage at this fatal and unexpected rebuff. All thoughts 
of censure or punishment were therefore immediately relinquish- 
ed, silence enjoined, and the heretic dismissed. To the silence 
imposed on Wickliff he paid no regard, but more avowedly than 
ever maintained his opinions, going about barefooted, it is said, 
in a long freeze gown, preaching every where to the people, 
and without the least reserve, in his own parish. All this assi- 
duity and public exertion but ill agrees with the equivocating 
evasions with which he is said to have explained his opinions 
before these bishops. But timidity was, of all others, the least 
observable ingredient in the temperament of this great man ; 
nor can there be any thing more improbable than the disguise 
he has been charged with in explaining his sentiments. A 



JOHN W1CKLIFF. 89 

modern writer, however, takes upon himself to say, that Wick- 
liff appears to have heen a man of slender resolution, and that 
his explanations are awkward apologies. Before venturing this 
hold and groundless assertion, this writer might, at least for his 
own credit, have considered, that the slender resolution and 
awkward apologies he charges on Wickliff, are merely what we 
have received from Walsingham, whom he has elsewhere charg- 
ed with disingenuous partiality. 

The duke of Lancaster flattered himself with the hopes of 
becoming sole regent during the minority of his nephew; but 
the parliament joined some bishops and noblemen with him in 
the regency, which considerably damped the rising spirits of 
the followers of Wickliff, who were, by this time, 1377, become 
so astonishingly numerous, that, it is said, two men could not 
be found together but one was a Wickliffite. But the death of 
Gregory XL March 1378, was highly favourable to Wickliff, 
as it put an end to the commission and power of the delegated 
bishops; and the double election to the pontificate, that happen- 
ed at this time, afforded a breathing space to his persecuted fol- 
lowers, as Urban VI. was not acknowledged in England till 
the end of the following year. In the interim, he wrote a tract, 
entitled, the Schism of the Roman Pontiffs; and shortly after 
published his book on the Truth of the Scriptures, in which he 
contended, contrary to the faith of the church, for the necessity 
of having them translated into the English language; asserting 
that the law of Christ was a sufficient rule to his church; that 
the will of God was delivered to man in two testaments; and 
that all disputations, not originating from thence, must be ac- 
counted profane. 

The fatigue of attending the delegates threw Wickliff into a 
dangerous fit of illness on his return to Oxford. On this oc- 
casion he was waited on by a very extraordinary deputation. 
The begging friars, whom he had heretofore treated with so 
much severity, sent four of their order, accompanied by four of 
the most respectable citizens of Oxford, to attend him ; who hav- 
ing gained admission to his bed-chamber, acquainted him, that 
on learning he lay at the point of death, they had been sent, in 
name of their order, to put him in mind of the manifold inju- 
ries he had done them, and hoped, that now, for the sake of his 
own soul, he would render them that justice that yet remained 
in his power, by retracting, in presence of these respectable 
persons, the many false and malicious slanders, and injurious 
misrepresentations, he had published of their lives and opinions. 
Wickliff, surprised at the solemnity of this strange deputation, 
raised himself on his pillow, and, with a stern countenance, 
thundered in their ears, " I shall not die, but live to declare 

4 M 



90 MEMOIR OF 

the evil deeds of the friars." Struck with the unexpected force 
of his expression, and the terror of his looks, the deputation re- 
tired in precipitant confusion. 

In 1380, while the parliament was engaged in framing a sta- 
tute, for rendering all foreign ecclesiastics ineligible to hold any 
benefices in England, and for expelling from the kingdom all 
foreign monks, Wickliff was ardently employed, both by his 
lectures and his writings, in exposing the Roman court, and 
detecting the vices of the clergy, whether religious or secular. 
Wickliff considered it as one of the leading errors of popery,, 
that the bible was locked up from the people; and having re- 
solved to remove that grievous inconveniency, by a transla- 
tion, was encouraged in the undertaking with the best wishes 
of all sober people. It, however, raised the clamours of an en- 
raged priesthood; and Knighton, a canon of Leicester, has left 
us a specimen of the language of his brethren on this important 
subject. " Christ," says he, " entrusted his gospel to the clergy 
and doctors of the church, to minister it to the laity and weaker 
sort, according to their exigencies and several occasions. But 
this Mr John Wickliff, by translating it, has made it vulgar, 
and laid it more open to the laity, and even women who can 
read, than it used to be to the most learned of the clergy and 
those of the best understanding; and thus the gospel jewel, the 
evangelical pearl, is thrown about, and trode under the foot of 
swine." Wickliff and his assistants were at much pains in 
making their translation. Having carefully corrected the Latin 
text, collected the glosses, and consulted the ancient fathers, 
they proceeded with the translation, not literally, but so as to 
express the meaning and import of the text, according to the 
Hebrew, as well as the Latin bibles. In this laborious under- 
taking, they found the commentators, and particularly the an- 
notations of Lyra, of especial service; they distinguished the 
books having the authority of holy writ from such as were 
apocryphal, and asserted the justness of their translation. 

The zeal of the clergy to suppress Wickliff's bible, only 
tended, as is commonly the case, to promote the circulation. 
The reformers, who possessed the ability, purchased whole copies; 
the poorer sort were obliged to content themselves with tran- 
scrips of ^particular gospels or epistles, as their inclinations di- 
rected, and their means enabled them. Hence it became a 
practice among the prelates, when the reformers became numer- 
ous, and the fires of persecution were kindled, to fasten these 
scraps of the scriptures about the necks of the condemned he- 
retics, and to commit them, with their possessor, to the flames. 

Wickliff still proceeded in detecting the errors, and lashing 
the abuses of the clergy, and set himself to oppose, both with 



JOHN WICKLIFF. 91 

the arms of reason and ridicule, that doctrine of absurdity 
called transubstantiation. Prior to the ninth century there 
had been a vast number of foolish ceremonies attached to the 
sacrament of the supper, and, with a view to impress the minds 
of the communicants, much nonsense had been expressed about 
the eucharist; but none had seriously taken up the subject of 
transformation till about 820, when Radbertus asserted, and in 
a copious work defended the proposition, that the bread and 
wine in the sacrament are, after consecration, no longer bread 
and wine, but really and substantially the body and blood of 
Christ; a doctrine at variance with the canons of the church 
for nearly a thousand years after the death of Christ, and par- 
ticularly the church of England, as appears by the Saxon 
homilies. This Wickliff attacked, in his divinity lectures, in 
1381, and maintained the true and ancient notion of the Lord's 
supper. On this point he published sixteen conclusions, the 
first of which is, that the consecrated host, seen on the altar, 
is not Christ, or any part of him, but an effectual sign of him. 
He offered to engage, in a public disputation, with any man on 
the truth of these conclusions; but was prohibited by the reli- 
gious, who were doctors of divinity, and Wickliff published his 
opinions to the world; but soon found he had touched the most 
tender part, by attempting to eradicate a notion, that, above all 
others, exalted the mystical and hierarchical powers and import- 
ance of the clergy. Accordingly, William de Barton, chan- 
cellor of the university, and eleven doctors, eight of whom were 
of the religious, condemned his conclusions as erroneous asser- 
tions. Wickliff told the chancellor, that neither him nor his 
assistants were able to confute his opinions, and appealed from 
their sentence of condemnation to the king. 

William Courtney, archbishop of London, and a devoted 
tool of his patron the pope, had, by this time, succeeded Sud- 
bury in the see of Canterbury; he had formerly opposed Wick- 
liff with uncommon zeal and animosity, and now proceeded against 
him and his adherents with renovated asperity. But so soon 
as the parliament met in 1382, Wickliff presented his appeal to 
the king and both houses. 

This appeal is represented, by Walsingham, as a crafty at- 
tempt to draw the nobility into erroneous opinions; who fur- 
ther asserts, that the appeal was disapproved by the duke of 
Lancaster, by whom Wickliff was ordered to withdraw it. 
Others as confidently assert, that the duke advised him against 
appealing to the king at all? but submit to the judgment of 
his ordinary. On which ground the monks take the liberty 
to assert, that he retracted his errors at Oxford, in presence of 
the archbishop of Canterbury, six bishops, and many doctors., 



92 MEMOIR OF 

surrounded with a great concourse of the people. It has never 
been denied, that, on such an occasion and place, Wickliff pub- 
licly read a Latin confession; but this paper, so far from being 
a retraction of his principles and opinions, was a defence, so 
far as the doctrine of transubstantiation was concerned; for it 
declares his determination to defend it with his blood, and bold- 
ly censures the contrary heresy, and explains at large in what 
sense he understands the body of Christ to be in the eucharist: 
" This venerable sacrament," says he, " is naturally bread and 
wine; but is, sacramentally, the body and blood of Christ." 

Archbishop Courtney, still continuing his persecuting rage 
against Wickliff, appointed a court of select bishops, doctors, 
and bachelors, who met in the monastery of the preaching friars, 
London. This court declared fourteen conclusions, of Wickliff 
and others, erroneous and heretical. Wickliff was accordingly 
summoned to attend, but prevented by his friends, who had 
been apprised of a plot laid to seize him on his way thither. 
His cause, nevertheless, was taken up and defended by the 
chancellor of Oxford and two proctors, as also by the greater 
part of the senate, who, in a letter addressed to the court, to 
which was affixed the university seal, gave him an unqualified 
recommendation for learning, piety, and orthodox faith. Dr. 
Nicholas Hereford, Dr. Philip Rapyndon, and John Ashton, 
M. A. appeared, and at this court, as well as at the convoca- 
tion, defended his doctrines. 

The bigotted Courtney, in the rage of his disappointment, 
exerted all his authority in the church, and exercised all his in- 
genuity, interest, and influence, at court and in the state, to 
punish the Wickliffites, and suppress their opinions. But 
Wickliff rose in reputation in proportion to the persecuting 
severity of this dignified ecclesiastic; and his doctrines, taking 
hold of the affections of the people, were circulated with aston- 
ishing rapidity through most part of the European continent; 
but Wickliff, amidst the blaze of his fame, and in the zenith of 
his usefulness, was forced to quit his professorship, and retire 
to his living at Lutterworth; where he continued to vindicate 
the doctrines he had taught, and encourage the converts he had 
made. 

In 1382, soon after his leaving Oxford, he was struck with 
the palsy; and, about the same time, summoned to appear at 
Rome, to answer, before the holy father, for his many and great 
offences; but excused himself, in a letter to the pope, wherein 
he tells him, that " he had learned of Christ to obey God rather 
than man." His enemies were now sensible, that his disorder 
would soon put a period to his opposition, and therefore suffer- 
ed him to pass the short remains of a life, already exhausted 



JOHN WICKLIFF. 93 

with labour and unceasing persecution, without further molesta- 
tion. On Innocent's day 1384, he had another and more vio- 
lent attack of the same disorder, when officiating in his own 
church, where he fell down, and never again recovered his 
speech, but soon after terminated a life of laborious activity 
and triumphant opposition, in the sixtieth year of his age. 

Such was the life of John Wickliff, than whom the christian 
world, since the age of the apostles, has not produced a greater 
man. His enemies, however, and that of the cause he defend- 
ed, have some of them vainly endeavoured to depreciate his 
talents, and even to question the strength of his resolution; but 
the dangers he encountered, and the victories he achieved, under 
circumstances so peculiarly unpropitious, while they mark the 
character of his traducers with malice, envy, and unmanly par- 
tiality, will serve to secure his glory, and transmit his untar- 
nished renown. For mankind, with all their defects, are not 
so blind, but they can perceive that the man who, single-handed, 
dares to attack at once the prejudices, the interests, and the 
united power of a world, cannot be a coward; and most assured- 
ly, that he who triumphs over such a powerful combination, 
convinces or confounds the learned, opens the eyes of blinded 
ignorance, and, through an inextricable maze of error, traces 
out the plain path of religious purity and moral propriety, it 
were madness to call him a fool : All this did Wickliff, whose 
amazing penetration, and rational manner of thinking, and faci- 
lity in shaking off the prejudices of education, drew forth the 
admiration of his contemporaries, and will secure him the vene- 
ration of posterity, by whom he will be considered as one of 
those prodigies which providence, on some rare occasions, raises, 
inspires, and abundantly qualifies for conducting his most diffi- 
cult and astonishing operations. 

Wickliff had studied theology with great care and remarka- 
ble success. He was endowed with an uncommon gravity, and 
the purity of his manners corresponded with his character as a 
teacher of religion and a minister of Jesus Christ. His anxiety 
to restore the primitive purity and simplicity of the church, in 
that ignorant and degenerate age, was such, that he laboured 
in season and out of season, if, by any means, he might draw 
the public attention and consideration to a subject so much ne- 
glected, and so shamefully perverted by the Romish church ; 
and we have reason to believe, that his success far exceeded his 
warmest anticipations. He was allowed, even by his enemies, 
to be a man of excellent practice, uncommon learning, and 
gigantic abilities. His works, that are yet extant, discover a 
soundness of judgment, and reasoning powers of the first order; 
they breathe a spirit of genuine piety ? and manifest a modesty 



94 MEMOIR OF 

altogether uncommon in that age of trifling puerility. Every 
thing he says is judicious, important, and correct. 

Next to his reading the scriptures, Bradwardine's writings 
first opened Wickliff's eyes to the genuine doctrine of justifica- 
tion hy grace; in these he discovered the amazing difference be- 
tween salvation by the grace and unmerited favour of God, and 
that held out by merit-mongers, penances, purgatory, and pil- 
grimages. 

Wickliff was an avowed necessitarian; and in vindicating his 
opinion on this singularly delicate and long contested point, 
had averred, that without admitting his argument, all prophecy 
must be considered as mere conjecture, inasmuch as God's fore- 
knowledge of any event is paramount to his having decreed 
and determined the bringing of it to pass; and, on the supposi- 
tion that it was unforeknown, how was it possible to foretel its 
future existence ? This argument so puzzled an archbishop of 
Armagh, that he laboured two years to reconcile the prophecies 
of Christ to the doctrine of free-will; but, with all his skill and 
labour, the task turned out more than a match for this learned 
and dignified Roman prelate. 

Regarding the doctrine of gratuitous pardon, Wickliff says, 
" The merit of Christ alone is sufficient to redeem every man 
from hell; and that, without the aid of any other concurring 
cause whatever, all those who are justified by his righteousness, 
shall be saved by his atonement." Save us, Lord, for nought, 
says Wickliff, that is, without any merit of ours, but for the me- 
rits of the great atoning sacrifice. 

As Dr. Wickliff was diligent in preaching and reading his 
divinity lectures, so he wrote a great many tracts, of which 
bishop Bale has given a particular account. They amount to 
two hundred and fifty-five, of which thirty-two are preserved in 
Trinity college, a great many in Cambridge, five in Trinity 
college, Dublin, four in the Bodleian library, two in the Cotton 
library, and three in the king's library; most of them are theo- 
logical, but some philosophical. Forty-eight are written in 
English, and the rest in Latin. A fair copy of his translation 
of the bible is in Queen's college, Oxford, and two copies more 
in the University library; besides these, there is also a volume 
of English tracts, said to be written by Wickliff, some of which 
are yet extant. His works, especially his translation of the 
bible, were wrote in the most expressive language of the age, 
though extremely uncouth to a modern ear, of which we have 
formerly given a specimen. His opinions were greatly mis- 
represented by his adversaries; but he was protected by many 
powerful friends, and his doctrine embraced by the greatest 
part of the kingdom, Edward III., the princess Dowager of 



JOHN WICKLIFF. 95 

Wales, the duke of Lancaster, the queen of Richard II., the 
carl marshal, Geoffrey Chaucer, and lord Cobham, were Ms 
patrons and friends. Under such powerful and exemplary- 
patrons, his adherents were daily increased. Many eminent 
divines, noblemen, and other persons of distinction, attaching 
themselves to the new religion, were followed by vast num- 
bers of the people; and though violently opposed by the dig- 
nified clergy, who, during the reigns of Richard the II., 
Henry the IV., and Henry V., stirred up bloody persecu- 
tions against the Wickliffites, their numbers were multiplied 
like suckers from the roots of trees in a forest. Soon after 
this, the seculars and ecclesiastics combined their power and 
influence to suppress and extirpate this rising heresy, which 
threatened to overturn the Romish hierarchy; and archbishop 
Arundel, twelve years after WickliiF had slept with his 
fathers, condemned, in convocation, eighteen of his conclu- 
sions. Acts of parliament were likewise obtained against his 
followers, and numbers of them burnt for their heresies. His 
books were prohibited in the universities; and in 1416, arch- 
bishop Chichely erected a species of inquisition, in every 
parish, to discover, and drag before their tribunals, all who ad- 
hered to, or appeared to favour these obnoxious tenets. By 
these cruel and unchristian means, that zealous advocate for the 
reformation of the church, John Lord Cobham, was burnt for 
heresy. He was the first nobleman in England whose blood 
was shed for religion in this contending period. Mr Fox, in 
his acts and monuments, affirms, that Gower and Chaucer, two 
poets, famous at that time, were followers of Wickliff, and that 
they ingeniously covered their opinions by a parabolic mode 
of writing, which they, who were favoured with the key, could 
fully comprehend; and that in this way many were converted to 
Wickliff's opinions. Chaucer died in 1400, and Gower soon 
after. 

The doctrines taught by Wickliff unhinged the infallibility 
of the pope; and the council of Constance, on the 5th of May 
1415, condemned forty-five articles which he had taught and 
maintained; but finding the archheretic had retired beyond the 
reach of their battering artillery, they wisely contented them- 
selves with insulting his mouldering remains. Accordingly, 
this venerable assembly of holy men, in sober gravity, and aw- 
ful solemnity, decreed, that the bones of this fallen adversary 
should be disinterred, and cast on the dunghill. This part of 
the sentence, however, was not put in execution till thirteen 
years after; when, in 1428, the bishop of Lincoln had a per- 
emptory order from the pope to have it put in immediate exe- 
cution. The remains of this excellent man were therefore dug 



96 MEMOIR OF 

out of the grave, where they reposed for four-and-forty years un- 
molested, publicly burnt, and the ashes thrown into an adjoin- 
ing brook. 

Such was the resentment of the holy see, and such the poor 
satisfaction obtained by the pope, and his obsequious council of 
Constance, from him who has been justly denominated the first 
English reformer. The Wickliffites were grievously oppressed, 
but could not be extinguished; persecution only served to esta- 
blish those doctrines, which, about an hundred years after this, 
became general in England, when the nation embraced the 
faith which this morning-star of the reformation had so early 
restored, not only to his own, but we may say, without hesita- 
tion, to all the nations of Christendom. His works were cir- 
culated by lord Cobham through great part of the continent. 
The servants and attendants of queen Ann, the wife of Richard 
II. on returning to Bohemia, carried along with them several 
of Wickliff 's writings, which were the means of promoting the 
reformation in that part of the continent. Numbers were also 
brought into Germany by Peter Payne, an Englishman, and a 
disciple of Wickliff's. They were so numerous in Bohemia, 
that two hundred volumes, finely written, and elegantly cover- 
ed, were burnt by archbishop Sbinko. A young Bohemian 
nobleman, who had been prosecuting his studies at Oxford, 
likewise took home several of Wickliff's books; and being 
well acquainted with John Huss, favoured him with a per- 
usal; which was the means of converting this excellent man, 
and the greater part of the university of Prague, to the faith of 
the reformation; which Huss, ever after, publicly taught and 
circulated with almost enthusiastic assiduity; vindicating the 
same in the face of the council who condemned his body to the 
flames. He considered Wickliff an angel sent from heaven to 
enlighten mankind; and amid the fire that consumed him, ex- 
ulted in the prospect of associating with him in the enjoyment 
of celestial happiness. 

In concluding this memoir, we cannot help expressing our 
regret, that nothing has been done to perpetuate the memory of 
this great man, to whom his country is evidently more indebted, 
both for her civil and religious privileges, than to any one of her 
most distinguished warriors. Let us hope, however, that the 
monument lately erected to the memory of John Knox, the 
celebrated Scottish reformer, may stimulate his countrymen to 
some similar expression of public regard. 

The works of Wickliff are amazingly numerous, but, with 
the exception of his translation of the bible, they are generally 
small, and most of them might, with propriety, be called tracts; 
but the circumstances of the times, and the exigencies of the 
people, pointed out the propriety of this mode of circulation. 



JOHN W1CKLIFF. 97 

And as some readers may be curious to know what subjects he 
chose, a list of those more remarkable has been selected from 
the various collections, and are as follows : 

Trialagorum, lib. 4. — De Religione Perfectorum. — De Eccle- 
sia et Membris. — De Diabolo et Membris. — De Christo et An- 
tichristo. — De Antichristo et Membris.— Sermones in Epistolas. 
— De Veritate Scripturse. — De Statu Irmocentise.- — De Stipen- 
diis Ministrorum. — De Episcoporum Erroribus. — De Curato- 
rum Erroribus. — De Perfectione Evangelica. — De Officio Pas- 
torali. — De Simonia Sacerdotum. — Super Psenitentiis Injun- 
gendis. — De Seductione Simplicium. — Dsemonum Astus in 
Subvertenda Religione. — De Pontificum Romanorum Schis- 
mate. — De Ultima eetate Ecclesise. — Of Temptation. — The 
Chartre of Hevene. — Of Ghostly Battel.— Of Ghostly and 
Fleshly Love. — The Confession of St. Brandoun. — Active Life, 
and Contemplative. — Virtuous Patience. — Of Pride. — Obser- 
vations Pise in Christi Prsecepta. — De Impediments Orationis. 
— De Cardinalibus Virtutibus. — De Actibus Animse. — Exposi- 
tio Orationis Dominica?.— De 7 Sacramentis. — De Natura Fidei. 
— De Diversis Gradibus Charitatis. — De Defectione a Christo. 
— De Veritate et Mendacio. — De Sacerdotio Levitico. — De Sa- 
cerdotio Christi. — De Dotatione Csesarea. — De Versutiis Pseu- 
docleri. — De Immortalitate Animse. — De Paupertate Christi. — 
De Physica Naturali. — De Essentia Accidentium. — De Necessi- 
tate Inturorum. — De Temporis Quidditate.— De Temporis Am- 
pliatione. — De Operibus Corporalibus. — De Operibus Spiritu- 
alibus.-^-De Fide et Perfidia. — De Sermone Domini in Mon- 
tem. — Abstractiones Logicales, — A Short Rule of Life. — The 
Great Sentence of the Curse Expounded.— Of Good Priests. — - 
De Contrarietate Duorum Dominorum. — WicklifFs Wicket. — 
De Ministrorum Conjugio.— De Religiosis Privatis. — Conciones 
de Morte. — De Vita Sacerdotum. — De Ablatis Restituendis. — 
De Arte Sophistica. — De Fonte Errorum. — De Incarnatione 
Verbi. — Super Impositis Articulis. — De Humanitate Christi. — 
Contra Concilium Terrse-motus. — De Solutione Satanse. — De 
Spiritu Quolibet. — De Christianorum Baptismo. — De Clavium 
Potestate. — De Blasphemia. — De Paupertate Christi. — De Ra- 
ritate et Densitate. — De Materia et Forma. — De Anima. — Octo 
Beatitudines. — De Trinitate. — Commentarii in Psalterium. — 
De Abominatione Desolationis. — De Civil i Dominio. — De Ec- 
clesise Dominio. — De Divino Dominio.. — De Origine Sectarum. 
— De Perfidia Sectarum. — Speculum de Antichristo. — De Vir- 
tute Orandi. — De Remissione Fraterna. — De Censuris Ecclesiae. 
— De Charitate Fraterna. — De Purgatorio Piorum. — De Pha- 
riseeo et Publicano. — And his translation of the Scriptures into 
the English language. 

4 N 



93 MEMOIR OF 



JOHN FRITH. 

The first in England that professedly wrote against the 
corporeal presence of Christ in the sacrament, was John Frith, 
an excellent scholar, and an eminent divine, born at Seven- 
oaks, in Kent. He was educated at king's college, Cambridge, 
where he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts; but afterwards 
went to Oxford, where the brilliancy and the solidity of his ta- 
lents soon procured him the office of a junior canon, in Car- 
dinal Wolsey's new college, now called Christ-church. Some 
time prior to 1525 he became acquainted with the famous 
William Tyndale, who, conversing with him on the abuses of 
religion, was made the happy instrument of convincing him of 
the fallacious ground on which men rested their hopes of salva- 
tion, who trusted either to their own righteousness or that of 
the saints* That the merits of Christ, and his all-perfect right- 
eousness alone, could justify the sinner, and secure him from the 
wrath denounced against every violation of God's holy and per- 
fect law; that works of supererogation only existed in the blind- 
ed imaginations of ignorant and deluded men; that penances, 
pilgrimages, and popish absolutions, had no efficacy in remov- 
ing the guilt, or cleansing the conscience of sinners, whatever 
they might have in enabling a crafty priesthood to pick their 
pockets. Frith, pondering these things in his mind, the more 
he considered, the more he was convinced, and soon after pub- 
licly professed the reformation principles; for which he was 
seized, examined by the commissary of the university, and, 
along with some of his associates, imprisoned within the limits 
of his own college, where some of them died in consequence of 
the maltreatment they had received. 

In 1528, being released from his imprisonment, he travelled 
through various places on the continent, where, by visiting the 
reformed churches, and conversing with their leading ministers, 
he returned to England greatly confirmed in the faith; but no 
sooner had he reached Reading, in Berkshire, than he was ta- 
ken up for a vagabond, and set in the stocks; where, after 
sitting a long time, and almost perishing with hunger, he re- 
quested some of the spectators to call the schoolmaster of the 
town, who, at that time, was Leonard Cox, a very learned man. 
Cox having discovered the eminent talents of the sufferer, by 
conversing with him on the Greek and Latin classics, pro- 
cured his release, and supplied him with victuals and money, 
After this he went to London, where, notwithstanding that he 
frequently changed his apparel and the place of his residence, 
he could not long evade the inquisitive eyes of the lord chancel- 



«. 



JOHN FRITH. 99 



lor, Sir Thomas More, who had spies at every port of the king- 
dom, and even along the roads, and a great reward promised to 
whoever would give information against this excellent man. 

It is not improbable that Sir Thomas More had some feelings 
of personal animosity against Frith, from a book he had writ- 
ten. The matter stands thus. A book, entitled, the Supplica- 
tion of the Beggars, published by a Mr Fish, of Gray's inn, 
inveighing against the imposing arts of the mendicants, and 
taxing the Roman pontiff with extortion, cruelty, and decep- 
tion, as he granted his indulgences and absolutions from pur- 
gatory to none bat such as could pay for them. This book 
was received with great attention by the public, and even by 
Henry VIII. himself, as it favoured him greatly in his then 
quarrel with the pope. 

Sir Thomas answered this publication by another, entitled, the 
Supplication of the Souls in Purgatory, wherein he strongly 
exhibits their supposed misery, and the relief afforded them by 
the masses that were said in their behalf; and, in the name of 
these wretched beings, implored their friends to step forward 
and support the religious orders, at a time when they were sur- 
rounded and attacked on every side by their inveterate enemies. 
Sir Thomas exerted all his wit and eloquence in the composi- 
tion of this publication^ but whether it arose from the badness 
of the cause, or the increasing information of the people, it met 
with no encouragement. 

Frith, however, undertook to return an answer, which he 
performed with all necessary gravity, showing that the doc- 
trine of purgatory had not the least foundation in scripture; 
that it was inconsistent with the merits of Christ and his con- 
sequent pardon of si.n; and that it stood diametrically opposed 
to the whole plan of his salvation by grace. That the fire spo- 
ken of by the apostle, as that which would devour the wood, 
hay, and stubble, could only be understood as the fire of perse- 
cution, that puts to the severest trial both the faith and forti- 
tude of the saints. He strenuously urged, and from the history 
of the primitive church produced abundant evidence, that such 
a doctrine was then wholly unknown, and that, as it could not 
be found in scripture, so neither did it exist in the writings of 
Ambrose, Jerome, or Augustine; insisting that it was intro- 
duced into the church by the monks, for the express purpose of 
deluding the world, and enhancing the value and importance of 
their craft. This spirited attack on the strong holds of the ec- 
clesiastic empire, enraged the clergy almost to madness; and 
finding they could not withstand the arguments of Mr Frith, 
they determined to silence him by the more energetic syllogisms 
of fire and faggot, 



100 MEMOIR OF 

Some short time after this, Mr Frith had a conversation with 
a familiar friend of his regarding the doctrines of transubstan- 
tiation, when he was requested to commit the substance of the 
arguments he had used to writing, and favour him with a copy 
for the help of his memory. Frith was rather backward to this, 
knowing the dangers to which he was exposed; but yielding to 
the importunity of his friend, he wrote down the following 
arguments. 

1. That the natural body of Christ, sin only excepted, pos- 
sessed similar properties with the bodies of other men, and 
could not therefore occupy two or more places at one and the 
same time; and that consequently the ubiquity of Christ's na- 
tural body was an incredible absurdity. — 2. That the words of 
Christ, as they occur in Matt. xxvi. 26, 27, 28, were by no 
means intended to be literally understood; but that their sense 
and meaning are to be taken from the analogy of the scripture. 
— 3, and lastly. That this holy ordinance of the supper ought 
to be administered and received according to the true and pro- 
per institution of Christ, notwithstanding that the present 
mode of administration, in the Romish church, is in every re- 
spect different therefrom. 

At this time, one William Holt, a taylor, who professed him- 
self a warm friend to the cause of reformation, by his hy- 
pocrisy, found an opportunity to betray its friends and adher- 
ents. This man expressed a strong desire to see Mr Frith's 
arguments; which he no sooner received, than he hurried away 
to Sir Thomas More, to Avhom he presented the heretical billet 
with no small share of consequential importance. Sir Thomas 
lost no time in apprehending the unsuspecting Frith, and lodg- 
ing him in the tower, where he had several conferences with 
the chancellor and others. At length he was taken to Lambeth 
before the archbishop, afterwards to Croydon before the bishop 
of Winchester, and at last, on the 20th of June 1533, examined 
before an assembly of bishops, sitting in St. Paul's cathedral, 
who, after interrogating him respecting the sacrament and pur- 
gatory, urged him to recant. Frith confuted all their argu- 
ments; and in place of recanting, subscribed his declaration in 
the following manner : — I Frith, thus do think, a»nd as I think 
and believe, so have I said, written, taught, and published, to 
the world. 

From the tenor of Mr Frith's open defence and unequivocat- 
ing assertions, both in his writings and before the assembly, he 
was deemed incorrigible, and condemned to be burnt. Accord- 
ingly, he was carried to Smithfield along with a young man 
named Andrew Hewet, on the 4th July 1553. When Mr Frith 
was tied to the stake, he evinced amazing courage, resigna* 



JOHN FRITH. 101 

tion, and self-possession. He embraced the burning faggots 
that were flaming around him, as an evidence of the cheerful- 
ness with which he could suffer for the cause of Christ and his 
ever-blessed gospel. One Dr. Cook, a priest, standing by, in 
an audible voice admonished the weeping spectators not to pray 
for the sufferers more than they were dogs ! Frith smiled at 
his impotent malice, and prayed the Lord to forgive him. The 
wind carried the flames in the direction of Hewet, his fellow- 
martyr, by which Frith had a lingering and exceedingly pain- 
ful death; but his mind was so fixed, and his patience so in- 
vincible, that he seemed less careful for his own, than for the 
sufferings of his faithful companion. At last, committing him- 
self into the hands of his Father and Redeemer, he expired in 
the prime of his life. 

When Mr Frith, as we have seen, was to be examined at 
Croydon, two of the archbishop's servants were sent to fetch 
him. Frith's pious and edifying conversation, and amiable de- 
portment by the way, made such a favourable impression on 
the minds of these men, that they contrived between themselves 
how they might let him escape; and having completed their ar- 
rangements, one of them thus addressed him. " Mr Frith, I 
am extremely sorry for having undertaken this journey. I am 
ordered to bring you to Croydon; and knowing the rage of 
your enemies, I consider myself as bringing you like a lamb to 
the slaughter. This consideration overwhelms me with sor- 
row, insomuch, that I disregard any hazard I may run, so as I 
may but deliver you out of the lion's mouth." To this friendly 
proposal Mr Frith replied, with a smile, Do ye think I am afraid 
to deliver my sentiments before the bishops of England, and 
these manifestly founded on the unerring veracity of divine re- 
velation ? It seems strange to me, said the other, that you was 
so willing to quit the kingdom before your apprehension; and 
that now you are even unwilling to save yourself from almost 
certain destruction. The matter, said Mr Frith, stands thus. 
While I was yet at liberty, I cherished it, and to the utmost of 
my power, endeavoured to preserve it for the benefit of the church 
of Christ; but now, by the providence of God, having been deli- 
vered into the hands of the bishops, I consider myself particu- 
larly called upon as an evidence for Christ and the truths of his 
religion, as well as bound by the ties of gratitude and love to 
my adorable Redeemer, publicly to acknowledge his supreme 
government in the church, and contend for the purity of that 
faith which in old times he committed to the care and guardi- 
anship of the saints. If therefore I should now start aside, and 
run away, I should run away from my God and the testimony 
of his word, deny the Lord that bought me, and grieve the 



102 MEMOIR OF 

hearts of his faithful servants. I beseech you, therefore, bring 
me to the place appointed, otherwise I must needs travel thither 
by myself. In the present instance, Mr Frith is perhaps more 
to be admired than justified. The saints are nowhere com- 
manded to give themselves up to their persecutors, but to avoid 
them wherever this can be done with a safe conscience. The 
primitive christians, it is true, many of them rather courted 
than avoided the martyr's crown; but what makes it more re- 
markable in Mr Frith, he was of an eminently meek and quiet 
disposition, by no means of that lion-hearted temperament that 
distinguished Luther, Knox, and several others of the re- 
formers. 

Frith' s greatest adversaries were Fisher, bishop of Rochester ; 
Sir Thomas More, and his son-in-law, Rastal. These he had 
refuted in his writings; and the vigour with which this was 
effected, most probably subjected him to their animosity and 
unmanly resentment. He was a polished scholar, says bishop 
Bale, as well as a master of the learned languages; and these, 
and all his other qualifications, were cheerfully devoted to the 
service of God and his generation. His works are — 1. Trea- 
tise of Purgatory — 2. Antithesis between Christ and the Pope 
— 3. Letter to the faithful followers of Christ's gospel, written 
in the tower 1532 — 4. Mirror, or Glass to know thyself, writ- 
ten in the tower 1532 — 5. Mirror, or Looking-glass, wherein 
you may behold the Sacrament of Baptism — 6. Articles for 
which he died, written in Newgate, 21st June 1533 — 7. Answer 
to Sir Thomas More's Dialogues concerning Heresies — 8. 
Answer to John Fisher, bishop of Rochester, &c. — All these 
treatises were printed at London, in folio, 1573. 



WILLLIAM TYNDALE. 

William Tyndale, the subject of the present memoir, was 
born on the border of Wales, some short time prior to 1500. 
He was of Magdalane-hall, in Oxford, where he distinguished 
himself, not merely by his literary acquisitions, but also and 
especially by his zealous attachment to the doctrines of the re- 
formation, which were now spreading through many places in 
England. Here he applied himself to the study of the scrip- 
tures with uncommon assiduity, not as a mere scholar, but as 
a sinner deeply interested in the truths they unfold; and, 
anxious to communicate to others the blessings he had received, 
he took much pains to instruct a number of his fellow-students 
in the knowledge of the truth by his private lectures. 



WILLIAM TYNDALE. 103 

Having taken his degrees, he removed to Cambridge, and 
from thence, after a short stay, went to live with Mr Welch, a 
gentleman of Gloucestershire, in the capacity of a tutor to his 
children. While in this situation, he had several occasional 
disputes with abbots and doctors who visited the family, some- 
times about learned men, at other times concerning the scrip- 
tures. Mr and Mrs Welch, after returning from a visit one 
evening, where seveial of those dignitaries had been descanting 
largely on some topics of divinity, they attacked Mr Tyndale 
with the whole force of the arguments they had heard from the 
ecclesiastics ; all which he overturned by ready and pertinent 
quotations from scripture. Upon which Mrs Welch, who was a 
very sensible woman, broke out in a rapturous exclamation, 

What ! says she, there was Dr. , who can afford to spend 

an hundred pounds; Dr. — , who can spend two hundred; 

and Dr. ~, who can as easily spend three; and is it rea- 
sonable, think ye, that your single assertion should supercede 
the united opinions of three such respectable and dignified cler- 
gymen. Mr Tyndale made no reply, and in future was more 
reserve on these topics. 

At this time he was translating a book of Erasmus, entitled 
Enchiridion militis Christiane, which, when finished, he pre- 
sented to Mr and Mrs Welch; who, after perusing it, seemed 
so far convinced in the truth of Tyndale's arguments, that the 
visits of the ecclesiastics were coolly received, and soon after 
discontinued. This anecdote, though it may appear too trivial 
for a work of this nature, will be excused for the important con- 
sequences it produced. The neighbouring clergy to a man were 
incensed against Mr Tyndale, on account of his arguments, and 
had him accused of many heresies to the bishop's chancellor, 
before whom he was cited to appear; but nothing having been 
proved against him, after railing at him for some time, and 
abusing him, he was dismissed. 

On his way home he called on an old friend of his, who had 
at one time been a bishop's chancellor, to him he opened his 
mind with regard to the rising opinions, and consulted him on 
many passages of scripture. Before they parted, the doctor 
said, are you not aware that the pope is the very antichrist 
spoken of in scripture ? Be careful, however, of what you say* 
for if it be known that this is your opinion, it will cost you your 
life. I have been an officer of his, added he, but have given it 
up, and I renounce him and all his works. 

Some time after, having fallen in company .with a certain 
divine, remarkable for his learning and the acuteness of his 
disputations, a controversy ensued, and having driven the doc- 
tor to his dernier resorte, he blasphemously cried out, We had 



104 MEMOIR OF 

better want the laws of God than those of the pope. Tyndale, 
fired with zeal and indignation at the unclerical expression, re- 
plied, I defy the pope and all his laws; and if it please God to 
spare me a few years, I will cause a plough-boy to know more 
of the scriptures than the pope himself and the greater part of 
his agents. All these circumstances roused the resentment of 
the priesthood against Tyndale to that degree, that he was forced 
to leave his native land, and seek that security among strangers 
which was denied him in his own country. 

In the mean time, recollecting the praise that Erasmus had 
bestowed on the learning of Tonstal, bishop of London, and 
hoping he might be willing to afford him protection, he applied 
to this celebrated literarian ; but this not being the path which, 
providence had marked out for Tyndale, the bishop excused 
himself, that his house was full, that he had already more than 
he could accommodate; advising him to look out in the city, 
where he could scarcely fail in procuring employment. 

Mr Tyndale remained in London for almost another year; 
but anxious to translate the New Testament into English, as, 
in his opinion, and that of his dear friend John Frith, the most 
effectual method of removing the darkness and ignorance of the 
people; but judging it could not be safely effected in England, 
by the kind assistance of Mr Henry Monmouth and others, he 
retired to Germany, where he laboured on the work, and finish- 
ed it in 1527. With respect to the translation, he says, in a 
letter to John Frith, " I call God to witness, against that day 
when we must all appear before our Lord Jesus, to give an ac- 
count of our various transactions, that I have not altered a sin- 
gle syllable of God's word; nor would I now, though all that 
this world contains of pleasure, honour, or wealth, were held 
out as my reward." This was the first translation of the New 
Testament into modern English, the language, by this time, be- 
ing much improved. He then began with the Old Testament, 
and translated the five books of Moses, prefixing excellent dis- 
courses to each book, as he had done to those of the New Testa- 
ment. Cranmer's bible, or, as it was called, the great bible, was 
Tyndale's merely revised and corrected, omitting the introduc- 
tory discourses and tables, and adding marginal references and 
a summary of contents. » 

On his first leaving England he went to Saxony, where he 
had much conversation with Luther, and other learned Ger- 
mans; afterwards, returning to the Netherlands, he fixed his 
residence at Antwerp, at that period a very populous and flour- 
ishing city. 

Having finished his translation of the books of Moses, he set 
sail for Hamburgh, with the intention of putting them to the 



WILLIAM TYNDALE. 105 

press; but being shipwrecked on the coast of Holland, all his books 
and manuscripts were lost. He took his passage, however, in 
another vessel for Hamburgh, where he met with Mr Coverdale, 
who assisted him in again translating the five books of Moses. 
This was in the year 1529. His translation having gone through 
the press, he sent part of the impression to England, where his 
translation of the New Testament had made a considerable 
noise, as well as it had done in Germany. The priests every- 
where cried it down, and charged it with a thousand heresies; 
boldly asserting, that the translating of the bible into English 
was a foolish attempt, and one that could never be realized; and 
if it could, it was both unlawful and inexpedient to put a trans- 
lation of the scriptures into the hands of the laity. Nor did 
they rest, till, by their importunity, they had procured a pro- 
clamation, prohibiting the people from purchasing or perusing 
any English translation of the scriptures. This proclamation 
was issued in 1527, in which, as well as by the public prohibi- 
tion of the bishops, a number of other treatises, which had been 
written by Luther and other reformers, were also prohibited 
and condemned. But all this noise and stir amongst the clergy 
only served to call up additional purchasers for the work. In 
this state of danger to the Roman church, and anxiety amongst 
her zealous partizans, when every head was at work to contrive 
some expedient to arrest the progress of reformation, the bishop 
of London hit on an artifice, which he flattered himself would 
effectually answer the purpose, by stopping the circulation of 
Tyndale's English New Testaments; a scheme which, in his 
judgment, would be not only more effectual, but likewise 
attended with less noise, as well as by a considerable saving of 
expence, this was, to buy up the whole impression at once. 
With this view, and full of these hopes, his lordship employed 
a Mr Packington, then residing at Antwerp, in this delicate 
business; assuring him, at the same time, that whatever might 
be the cost, he .would have them all burned at Paul's cross. 
In consequence of this engagement, Packington, who was a se- 
cret friend to the reformation, entered into an engagement with 
Tyndale, by which the bishop had the books, and Packington 
abundant praise for his dexterity; but Tyndale had all the 
money. This enabled our reformer to publish at once a more 
correct and much larger edition, so that, as Mr Fox expresses 
it, " They came over to England thick and three-fold." This 
disappointment filled his lordship with equal rage and astonish- 
ment, nor could he comprehend by what means his policy had 
been over-reached, till some time after, that one Constantine, who 
had been apprehended by Sir Thomas More, divulged the laugh- 
able secret. The bishop at last perceiving, that Tyndale was a man 
4 o 



106 MEMOIR OF 

of very superior abilities, and capable of seriously injuring their 
craft by his publications, resolved, as they could neither draw 
him into their party, nor otherwise sijence him, to have him put 
out of the way. To effect this cruel purpose, one Philips was 
despatched to Antwerp, where, having hypocritically insinuated 
himself into his company and confidence, under the pretext of 
friendship, delivered him into the hands of his enemies. 

The simple and unsuspecting Tyndale was accordingly carried 
a prisoner to the castle of Tilford, about eighteen miles from 
Antwerp; where, notwithstanding that the English merchants 
did every thing in their power to procure his enlargement, and 
that letters from lord Cromwell and others from England urged 
the same request, the activity and dexterity with which Philips 
executed his sanguinary commission, brought him before a 
tribunal, where he received the sentence of death. 

Pursuant to the sentence of the court, Tyndale was brought 
to the stake, and while they were binding him, he cried out, 
with an audible and fervent voice, " Lord, open the king of 
England's eyes." He was first strangled by the hangman, and 
afterwards burned near Tilford castle, in the year 1536. And 
thus the man, whom Fox has, with the utmost propriety, styled 
the Apostle of England, rested from his labours, having fought 
a good fight; and by finishing his course in a faithful adherence 
to the truth, left the powers of this world, particularly tyranni- 
cal oppressors and persecutors, an additional demonstration, 
that the mind of man is not subject to their capricious or sel- 
fish control, but scorning the narrow limits of their diminutive 
jurisdiction, can break through their barriers, and, only subject 
to the laws of reason and conviction, triumphantly rebel. 

Mr Tyndale was a man of seraphic piety, indefatigable study, 
and extraordinary learning. So careless was he about the 
wealth of this world, that he declared, before he went to Ger- 
many, that he would cheerfully consent to live, in any county 
of England, on an allowance of ten pounds a-year, and oblige 
himself to take no more, if he might only have authority to in- 
struct children, and preach the gospel of Christ. His eminent 
talents and extensive knowledge, united with a fervent zeal 
and a confirmed stedfastness of faith, richly qualified him for 
the labours of a reformer. During the time of his imprison- 
ment, which lasted eighteen months, such was the blessing of 
God on his faithful preaching, that he was the means of con- 
verting his goaler and his daughter, besides several others of 
his household. Even the procurer general, or emperor's attor- 
ney, publicly said concerning him, that he was homo doclus, 
pins, et bonus, a learned, pious, and good man. Bishop Bale 
says, that " for knowledge, purity of doctrine, and holiness of 



WILLIAM TYNDALE. 107 

life, Tyndale ought to be esteemed the next English reformer 
to Wickliff. His picture is said to represent him with a bible 
in his hand, and this distich ; 

Hac ut luce tuas dispergam, Roma, tenebras, 
Sponte extorris ero, sponte sacrijiciunu 

Rendered thus : 

That light o'er all thy darkness, Rome, 

With" triumph might arise; 
An exile freely I hecome, 

Freely a sacrifice. 

His works, beside the translation of the scriptures, were all 
published in one general volume, and are as follows : 

1. A Christian's Obedience — 2. The Unrighteous Mammon 
— 3. The Practice of the Papists — 4. Commentaries on the 
Seventh Chapter of St. Matthew — 5. A Discourse of the Last 
Will and Testament of Tracii — 6. An Answer to Sir Thomas 
More's Dialogues — 7. The Doctrine of the Lord's Supper against 
More — 8. Of the Sacrament of the Altar — 9. Of the Sacra- 
mental Signs — 10. A Footpath leading to the Scriptures — 11. 
Three letters to John Frith, 

The remains of such men, when these are few, are on that 
account the more desirable, we shall therefore insert said letters, 
as they have been preserved by Mr Fox, whose works are too 
voluminous to be in the possession, or even within the purchase, 
of many serious people. 

LETTER I. 
" The grace and peace of God our Father, and of Jesus 
Christ our Lord, be with you, Amen. Dearly beloved brother 
John, I have heard say, how the hypocrites, now that they 
have overcome that great business which letted them, or at the 
least way have brought it to a stay, return to their old nature 
again. The will of God be fulfilled, and that which he hath 
ordained to be ere the world was made, that come, and his glory 
reign over all. 

<•' Dearly beloved, however the matter be, commit yourself 
wholly and only unto your most loving Father, and most kind 
Lord; fear not men that threat, nor trust men that speak fair: 
But trust him that is true of promise, and able to make his 
word good. Your cause is Christ's gospel, a light that must be 
fed with the blood of faith. The lamp must be dressed and 
snuffed daily, and that oil poured in every evening and morn- 
ing, that the light go not out. Though we be sinners, yet is 
the cause right. If when we be buffeted for well-doing, we 
suffer patiently and endure, that is acceptable with God. For 
to that end we are called. For Christ also suffered for us, leav- 
ing us an example that we should follow his steps, who did no 



108 MEMOIR OF 

sin. Hereby have we perceived love, that he laid down his life 
for us; therefore we ought also to lay down our lives for the 
brethren. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in 
heaven. For we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified 
with him. Who shall change our vile body, that it may be 
fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working 
whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. 

" Dearly beloved, be of good courage, and comfort your soul 
with the hope of this high reward, and bear the image of Christ 
in your mortal body, that it may at his coming be made like to 
his immortal body; and follow the example of all your other 
dear brethren, which chose to suffer in hope of a better resur- 
rection. Keep your conscience pure and undefiled, and say 
against that nothing. Stick at necessary things, and remember 
the blasphemies of the enemies of Christ, saying, they find none 
but who will abjure rather than suffer the extremity. More- 
over, the death of them that come again after they have once 
denied, though it be accepted with God, and all that believe, 
yet it is not glorious : For the hypocrites say, he must needs 
die, denying helpeth not. But might it have holpen, they 
would have denied five hundred times; but seeing it would not 
help them, therefore of pure pride and meer malice together, 
they spake with their mouths what their conscience knoweth 
false. If you give yourself, cast yourself, yield yourself, com- 
mit yourself wholly and only to your loving Father, then shall 
his power be in you and make you strong, and that so strong, 
that you shall feel no pain, which should be to another present 
death : And his Spirit shall speak in you, and teach you what 
to answer, according to his promise : He shall set out his truth 
by you wonderfully, and work for you above all that your heart 
can imagine; yea, and you are not yet dead, though the hypocrites 
all, with all that they can make, have sworn your death. Una 
salus metis nullam sperare salutem; To look for no man's help, 
bringeth the help of God to them that seem to be overcome in 
the eyes of the hypocrites : Yea, it shall make God to carry 
you thorow thick and thin for his truth's sake, in spite of all 
the enemies of his truth. There falleth not a hair till his hour 
be come; and when his hour is come, necessity carrieth us hence, 
though we be not willing. But if we be willing, then have we 
a reward and thank. 

" Fear not the threatening, therefore, neither be overcome of 
sweet words; with which twain the hypocrites shall assail you. 
Neither let the persuasions of worldly wisdom bear rule in your 
heart, no, though they be your friends that counsel you. Let 
Bilney be a warning to you, let not their vizor beguile your 
eyes. Let not your body faint. He that endureth to the end 



WILLIAM TYNDALE. 109 

shall be saved. If the pain be above your strength, remember, 
6 Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, I will give it you.' 
And pray to your Father in that name, and he shall cease your 
pain, or shorten it. The Lord of peace, of hope, and of faith, 
be with you, Amen. 

" William Tyndale." 
LETTER II. 
" Two have suffered in Antwerp, in die sanctce crusis, un- 
to the great glory of the gospel; four at Rysels, in Flanders; 
and at Luke hath there one at least suffered, and all the same 
day. At Roan, in France, they persecute. And at Paris are 
five doctors taken for the gospel. See, you are not alone; be 
cheerful, and remember that among the hard-hearted in Eng- 
land, there is a number reserved by grace : For whose sakes, 
if need be, you must be ready to suffer. Sir, if you may write, 
how short soever it be, forget it not, that we may know how it 
goeth with you, for our heart's ease. The Lord be yet again 
with you, with all his plenteousness, and fill you that you flow 
over, Amen. 

" If when you have read this, you can send it to Adrian; 
do, I pray you, that he may know how that our heart is with 
you. 

" George Joy, at Candlemas, being at Barrow, printed two 
leaves of Genesis in a great form, and sent one copy to the 
king, and another to the new queen, with a letter to N, to deli- 
ver them; and to purchase license, that he might so go through 
all the bible. Out of this is sprung the noise of the new bible; 
and out of that is the great seeking for English books at all 
printers and book-binders in Antwerp, and for an English priest 
that should print. 

" This chanced the ninth day of May. 

" Sir, your wife is well content with the will of God, and 
would not, for her sake, have the glory of God hindered. 

" William Tyndale." 
LETTER III. 
" The grace of our Saviour Jesus, his patience, meek- 
ness, humbleness, circumspection, and wisdom, be 
with your heart, Amen. 
" Dearly beloved brother, mine heart's desire in our Sa- 
viour Jesus is, that you arm yourself with patience, and be 
cool, sober, wise, and circumspect, and that you keep you a low 
by the ground, avoiding high questions, that pass the common 
capacity. But expound the law truly, and open the veil of 
Moses to condemn all flesh, and prove all men sinners, and all 
deeds under the law, before mercy have taken away the con- 
demnation thereof, to be sin and damnable; and then, as a faith** 



110 MEMOIR OF 

ful minister, set abroach the mercy of our Lord Jesus, and let 
the wounded consciences drink of the water of Him, and then 
shall your preaching be with power, and not as the doctrine of 
the hypocrites; and the Spirit of God shall work with you, and 
all consciences shall bear record unto you, and feel that it is so. 
And all doctrine that casteth a mist on those two, to shadow 
and hide them, I mean the law of God and mercy of Christ, 
that resist you with all your power. Sacraments without sig- 
nification refuse. If they put significations to them, receive 
them, if you see it may help, though it be not necessary. 

" Of the presence of Christ's body in the sacrament, meddle 
as little as you can, that there appear no division among us. 
Barnes will be hot against you. The Saxons be sore on the af- 
firmative; whether constant or obstinate, I remit it to God. 
Philip Melanchthon is said to be with the French king. There 
be in Antwerp that say, they saw him come into Paris with an 
hundred and fifty horses, and that they spake with him. If the 
Frenchmen receive the word of God, he will plant the affirma- 
tive in them. George Joy would have put forth a treatise of 
that matter, but I have stopt him as yet : What he will do, if 
he get money, I wot not. I believe he would make many rea- 
sons little serving to that purpose : My mind is, that nothing 
be put forth till we hear how you shall have sped. I would 
have the right use preached, and the presence to be an indiffer- 
ent thing, till the matter might be reasoned in peace at leisure 
of both parties. If you be required, shew the phrases of the 
scripture, and let them talk what they will. For as to believe 
that God is everywhere, hurteth no man that worshippeth him 
nowhere but within the heart, in spirit and verity : Even so 
to believe, that the body of Christ is everywhere (though it 
cannot be proved) hurteth no man, that worshippeth him no- 
where save in the faith of his gospel. You perceive my mind : 
Howbeit, if God shew you otherwise, it is free for you to do as 
he moveth you. 

" I guessed long ago, that God would send a dazing into the 
head of the spiritualty, to catch themselves in their own sub- 
tilty, and trust it is come to pass. And now me thinketh I 
smell a counsel to be taken, little for their profits in time to 
come. But you must understand, that it is not of a pure heart 
and for love of the truth, but to avenge themselves, and to eat 
the whore's flesh, and to suck the marrow of her bones. 
Wherefore cleave fast to the rock of the help of God, and com- 
mit the end of all things unto him : And if God shall call you, 
that you may then use the wisdom of the worldly, as far as 
you perceive the glory of God may come thereof, refuse it not; 
and ever among thrust in, that the scripture may be in the 



WILLIAM TYNDALE. Ill 

mother-tongue, and learning set up in the universities. But if 
ought be required contrary to the glory of God, and his Christ, 
then stand fast, and commit, yourself to God, and he not over- 
come of men's persuasions; which haply shall say, We see no 
other way to bring in the truth. 

" Brother, beloved in my heart, there liveth not in whom I 
have so good hope and trust, and in whom my heart rejoiceth, 
and my soul comforteth herself, as in you; not the thousand 
part so much for your learning, and what other gifts else you 
have, as because you will creep alow by the ground, and walk 
in those things that the conscience may feel, and not in the ima- 
ginations of the brain : In fear, and not in boldness : In open 
necessary things, and not to pronounce or define of hid secrets, 
or things that neither help nor hinder, whether it be so or no; 
in unity, and not in seditious opinions : Insomuch that if you 
be sure you know, yet in things that may abide leisure you will 
defer, or say (till other agree with you) Me thinks the text re- 
quireth the sense or understanding. Yea, and if you be sure 
that your part be good, and another hold the contrary, yet if it 
be a thing that maketh no matter, you will laugh and let it pass, 
and refer the thing to other men, and stick you stiffly and stub- 
bornly in earnest and necessary things. And I trust you be 
persuaded even so of me : For I call God to record against the 
day we shall appear before our Lord Jesus, to give a reckoning 
of our doings, that I never altered one syllable of God's word 
against my conscience, nor would this day, if all that is in the 
earth, whether it be pleasure, honour, or riches, might be given 
me. Moreover, I take God to record to my conscience, that I 
desire of God to myself in this world, no more than that with- 
out which I cannot keep his laws. 

" Finally, if there were in me any gift that could help at 
hand, and aid 'you if need required, I promise you I would not 
be far off, and commit the end to God. My soul is not faint, 
though my body be weary. But God hath made me evil 
favoured in this world, and without grace in the sight of men, 
speechless and rude, dull and slow witted; your part shall be 
to supply what lacketh in me : Remembering, that as lowliness' 
of heart shall make you high with God, even so meekness of 
words shall make you sink into the hearts of men. Nature 
giveth age authority; but meekness is the glory of youth, and 
giveth them honour. Abundance of love maketh me exceed in 
babbling. 

" Sir, as concerning purgatory, and many other things, if you 
be demanded, you may say, if you err, the spiritualty hath so 
led you, and that they have taught you to believe as you do. 
For they preached you all such things out of God's word, and 



112 MEMOIR OF 

alledged a thousand texts, by reason of which texts you believed 
as they taught you, but now you find them lyers, and that the 
texts mean no such things, and therefore you can believe them 
no longer, but are as you were before they taught you, and be- 
lieve no such thing : Howbeit you are ready to believe, if they 
have any other way to prove it; for without proof you cannot 
believe them, when you have found them with so many lyes, 
&c. If you perceive wherein we may help, either in being still 
or doing somewhat, let us have word, and I will do mine utter- 
most. 

" My lord of London hath a servant called John Tisen, with 
a red beard, and a black-reddish head, and was once my scholar; 
he was seen in Antwerp, but came not among the Englishmen : 
Whether he is gone ambassador secret, I wot not. 

" The mighty God of Jacob be with you, to supplant his ene- 
mies, and give you the favour of Joseph, and the wisdom and 
the spirit of Stephen be with your heart, and with your mouth, 
and teach your lips what they shall say, and how to answer to 
all things. He is our God, if we despair in ourselves, and trust 
in him : And his is the glory. Amen. 

"January, 1533. William Tyndale." 



JOHN LAMBERT. 

The real name of this very remarkable contender for the 
truth of the gospel was Nicholson; but the dangers to which 
his religious opinions subjected him, during the latter part of 
his life, induced him to assume the surname of Lambert. It 
does not appear when he was born, though his having suffered 
in 1538, makes it probable that it might be about the end of 
the fifteenth, or beginning of the sixteenth century. Neither 
has the place of his birth been precisely ascertained, only he is 
said to have been born in some part of the county of Norfolk. 
He received his academical education at the university of Cam- 
bridge, where he acquired the learned languages; and, by the 
instrumentality of the pious Bilney, was also converted to the 
knowledge of Christ and his gospel. 

Lambert, who began to be distinguished for his learning and 
piety, was soon obliged to save himself, from the outrageous 
fury of Henry VIII., by retiring to the continent. Accord- 
ingly, he went over to Antwerp, where Tyndale and Frith, who 
seem to have been his confidential friends, had also taken re- 
fuge from the violence of the persecution. There he officiated 
as preacher and chaplain to the English factory in that city, 



JOHN LAMBERT. 113 

for nearly two years. But the tenor of his discourses, though 
admired by the reformers, proved gall and wormwood to the 
zealots of the Roman church; and one Barlow, in the fervour of 
his zeal for Rome, lodged an accusation against him with the 
lord chancellor of England, Sir Thomas More; and poor Lam- 
bert was carried a prisoner to London, and handed over to his 
persecutors in 1532, as an innocent lamb to the callous and cold- 
blooded butcher. His first examination was taken at Lambeth, 
by Warham, then archbishop of Canterbury, and afterwards at 
the bishop's house at Oxford, before a multitude of his adver- 
saries. He was interrogated on forty-five articles; to all of 
which he replied, at great length, in an animated, powerful, 
and very learned address, highly honourable both to himself 
and the noble cause he so triumphantly defended. It is even 
doubtful, whether a more solid and comprehensive apology for 
the principles of the reformation can any where be found; its 
great length exceeds the limits of our plan, otherwise we should 
have willingly inserted it. The curious reader will find it at 
large in Fox's Monuments of the reign of Henry VIII. We 
shall nevertheless give a short extract at the end of his life as a 
specimen. 

Lambert continued in custody till the next year, 1533, in 
which the archbishop died, and was succeeded by Cranmer; 
which circumstance, together with the marriage of Anne Bo- 
leyn, seem to have been the immediate cause of Lambert's re- 
lease; which he had no sooner obtained, than he repaired to 
London, where he became a teacher of the Greek and Latin 
languages. The aspect of the times induced him to follow this 
secular employment, in preference to the priesthood; and hav- 
ing resolved to marry, and settle in London, he had proposed 
to take up the freedom of the city in the grocer's company. 
But God, who over-rules all the purposes of men according to 
his own good pleasure, called this eminent individual to act on 
a more honourable and exalted theatre. Some time in 1538, 
Lambert having been present at a sermon, preached by Dr. 
Taylor, who, at that period, was considered rather friendly, as 
otherwise, to the reformation principles. Lambert, not alto- 
gether satisfied with what he had heard, desired a friendly con- 
ference with the doctor; in the course of which, he proposed 
several theological points, on which he wished the doctor's opi- 
nion, and particularly that relating to the corporeal presence 
of Christ in the sacrament. Taylor, pressed perhaps too close, 
excused himself for the present, on account of other business; 
but suggested, that it might better answer the purpose for Lam- 
bert to write his opinion on these matters, which they would 
afterwards talk over at their leisure. 

5 p 



114 MEMOIR OF 

Lambert accordingly proposed ten arguments in writing, for 
supporting his opinion against transubstantiation; most of which 
are lost. The first, however, is founded on these words of our 
Saviour, This cup is the New Testament. Now, says Lambert^ 
if these words neither change the cup nor the wine it contains 
substantially into the New Testament, which nobody asserts, 
or ever has asserted; then, by a parity of reasoning, the words, 
This is my body, spoken of the bread in the same passage of 
scripture, do not change it into the real body of Christ. His 
other nine arguments are said to be equally acute, and the 
whole supported with abundance of scripture evidence, and quo- 
tations from the primitive fathers. Taylor was seriously in- 
clined to satisfy Lambert; but finding himself unable to with- 
stand the force of his reasoning, applied, among others, to Dr. 
Barnes, a good man, but, like many good men at the dawning 
of the reformation, in a state of hesitating dubiety with regard 
to the sacrament of the supper. Under these circumstances^ 
Barnes advised Dr. Taylor to lay the matter before Cranmer, 
the archbishop, who, at this time, was still an advocate for 
transubstantiation. Thus Lambert was under the necessity of 
defending his propositions before a court of bishops, with Cran- 
mer at their head, by which means his sentiments were pub- 
lished to the whole city, the court, and the country. 

Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, ever ambitious of royal fa- 
vour, thought this opportunity, for insinuating himself into the 
good graces of the king, was not to be neglected, and accord- 
ingly suggested to his majesty the propriety of seizing the pro- 
pitious moment for silencing the clamours of his subjects, and 
satisfying his friends, that though he had renounced the Roman 
authority, he had not thereby abandoned the catholic faith, and 
that by punishing, with salutary severity, all who dared to set 
forth doctrines opposed to the faith of the church. Moreover^ 
that Lambert, an obstinate and contumacious heretic, who held 
the most heretical and. blasphemous tenets, and supported them 
with audacious pertinacity, had thereby subjected himself to 
the heaviest censures of the canon law, and would prove, by his 
death, a wholesome example to the nation at large. 

Henry caught the bait, and forthwith issued a general ordi- 
nance, commanding the immediate appearance of all the nobi- 
lity and bishops of England, to assist him against increasing 
heresies and heretics, as he purposed personally to sit in judg- 
ment on these important and national concerns. 

Such was the apparent solemnity and splendid apparatus of 
this extraordinary trial, that crowds of spectators arrived from 
every quarter. The king, attended by a strong guard, made 
his appearance, and seated himself on a throne prepared for the 



JOHN LAMBERT. 115 

occasion. He was arrayed in white garments, emblematical of 
innocence and impartial justice. On his right hand sat the 
bishops, and behind him the judges and crown lawyers, all 
clothed in purple; while, on his left, the peers of the realm, and 
other officers of the crown, were arranged according to their 
precedency. The scene was awful and imposing, while the 
severe looks, the reckless language, and despotic manner of the 
royal judge, was more than sufficient to sink the courage, and 
destroy the self-possession of any man, whose confidence was 
not founded on the promise of an infinitely more powerful 
Judge. 

It were too tedious to enter on the cruel, despotic, and shame- 
fully partial proceedings of this memorable day. The imperious 
frowns, and bullying threats of the judge; and the mild, but 
firm and self-possessing deportment of Lambert, has scarcely a 
parallel, even in the records of catholic cruelty. Lambert de- 
fended himself witk the firmness of a man, the learning and 
acuteness of a consummate scholar, and, at the same time, with 
all that gravity, meekness, and modesty, expected in the de- 
meanour of a christian; but truth was of no avail, the propriety 
of his conduct, the force of his reasoning, and the captivating 
power of his eloquence, went all for nothing. His case was 
predetermined, the tyrant had resolved to destroy him. The 
king commanded Cromwell to read the cruel sentence of con- 
demnation and death. It was Lambert's peculiar case, not 
only to become a martyr for the truth, but also to suffer by 
men who soon after vindicated the same cause, and suffered 
death for the self-same opinions. Having received his sentence, 
he seems to have been confined to Cromwell's house, where, it 
is said, Cromwell asked his forgiveness for what he was com- 
pelled to do against him. On the day of his death he break- 
fasted among Cromwell's gentlemen with cheerfulness; and on 
his departure to the stake, saluted them with much ease and 
respect, and was thus led like a lamb to the slaughter. 

No man ever suffered more diabolical cruelty at the stake 
than this evangelical martyr, he was rather roasted than burnt 
to death ; if the fire became stronger, or if the flame reached 
higher than they chose, it was removed or damped. When his 
legs were burnt off, and his thighs were reduced to mere stumps 
in the fire, they pitched his broiling body on pikes, and lacer- 
ated his flesh with their halberts. But God was with him in 
the midst of the flame, and supported his spirit under the 
anguish of expiring nature. Almost exhausted, he lifted up 
his hands, such as the fire had left him, and with his last 
breath, cried out to the people, None but Christ ! None but 
Christ ! These memorable words, spoken at such a time, and 



116 MEMOIR OF JOHN LAMBERT. 

under such peculiar circumstances, were calculated to make a 
deeper and more lasting impression on the minds of the spec- 
tators, than could have been effected by a volume written on 
the subject. At last his remains were beat down into the 
flames, while his triumphant soul " mocked their short arm, and, 
quick as thought, escaped where tyrants vex not, and the weary 
rest." 

During his confinement, he wrote a long treatise to the king, 
in which he apologised for his faith and doctrine; part of which 
has been preserved in Fox's Monuments, to which we refer 
the reader. We shall now, according to promise, extract a few 
words from his first examination, in order to give the reader 
some idea of the evangelical principles of this distinguished 
soldier of Jesus Christ. 

On his first examination before archbishop Warham, he was 

asked, « Dost thou believe, that whatsoever is done of man, 

whether it be good or ill, cometh of necessity." Lambert 

could easily perceive that the question was a trap laid for his 

life, and answered it with equal prudence and faithfulness. 

" Unto the first part of your riddle, I neither can, nor will give 

any definitive answer. Concerning the second part, whether 

man hath free-will or no to deserve joy or pain ; As for our 

deserving joy, in particular, I think it very little or none, even 

when we do the very commandments of God. When you have 

done all that is commanded you, saith our Saviour, say ye be 

unprofitable servants. When we have done his bidding, we 

ought not so to magnify neither ourselves or our free-will, but 

laud him with a meek heart through whose benefit we have 

done (if at any time we do it) his liking and pleasure. Hence 

Justin prayeth, Domine, da quod jubes, et jube quod, viz. Lord, 

give what thou commandest, and require what thou wilt. 

Concerning free-will, I mean altogether as St. Austin, That of 

ourselves we have no liberty or ability to do the will of God, 

but are shut up and sold under sin; as both Isaiah and Paul 

bear witness. But by the grace of God we are rid and set at 

liberty, according to the portion that every man, that is, every 

regenerate man, hath received, some more, some less." He 

was farther questioned, whether faith alone, without good 

works, may suffice to the salvation and justification of a man 

who has fallen into sin after baptism. The martyr answered 

in the words of Austin, Opera bona nonfaciunt justunc sedjus- 

tificatus facit bona opera, The performance of good works does 

not justify a man, but the man that is justified performs good 

works. 



117 

JOHN ROGERS, 

The Proto-martyr under Queen Mary. 

This intrepid warrior, under the Caj^ain of our salvation, 
was the first, in the persecuting reign of Queen Mary, who led 
the way, by the cross, to the martyr's crown of glory. He 
had his education at Cambridge, where he soon acquired an 
eminent proficency in learning. He was chosen by a company 
of English merchants, at Antwerp, for their chaplain, to whom 
he preached for many years in that populous and flourishing 
city; and having become acquainted with William Tyndale 
and Miles Coverdale, who had there taken shelter from the 
persecution in the boisterous reign of Henry VIII., was, by 
their means, brought to the knowledge of the truth as it is in 
Jesus. Here he joined hands with these eminent individuals, in 
forwarding the translation of the holy scriptures, and was there- 
by so thoroughly convinced of the gross absurdity of the doc- 
trines of the Roman church, that he renounced them for ever. 
At Antwerp he married, and removed to Wittemberg, still in- 
creasing in knowledge, and became such a proficient in the 
Dutch language, that he was chosen pastor of a congregation in 
that place; the duties of which office he faithfully discharged for 
some years, when he was called home by bishop Ridley, in the 
reign of Edward VI. He was appointed prebendary and divi- 
nity lecturer of St. Paul's, where he continued to labour in his 
Master's vineyard till the accession of Queen Mary. But hav- 
ing preached a sermon in the beginning of that persecuting 
reign, at Paul's cross, wherein he exhorted his audience to an 
inflexible adherence to the doctrines they had been taught, and 
to beware of the idolatry, superstition, and pestilent doctrines of 
the church of Rome. It was impossible, that zeal so fervent, 
and at the same time so publicly manifested, could be either 
concealed or suffered to pass unopposed. Accordingly, he was 
called before the privy council, where he confirmed his answers 
by the scriptures, and defended his cause with so much good 
sense and propriety, that for the present he was dismissed. 
After the queen's proclamation against preaching was pro- 
mulgated,, he was again called before the popish bishops, who 
thirsted for his blood, and ordered to remain a prisoner in his 
own house, where he continued under this sort of imprisonment 
for six months. From this confinement he might have easily 
escaped, and to this he had many inducements, having a wife 
and ten children, and many friends in Germany, with certain 
preferment awaiting him in that country; but being called 
upon to appear for the cause of his heavenly Master, he would 



118 MEMOIR OF 

not depart, though remaining at the hazard of his life. From 
his. own house he was removed to Newgate, where he was clos- 
ed up with thieves, robbers, and murderers. At length, on the 
twenty-second, and several succeeding days of January 1555, 
he was examined before Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, and 
others, where, after many things, the bishop asked him, " What 
sayest thou ? make us a direct answer, whether thou wilt be one 
of this catholic church or not, with us, in the state in which we 
are now ?" To this Mr Rogers replied, " My lord, I cannot 
believe that ye yourselves do think in your hearts, that the pope 
is the supreme head in the forgiving of sin, &c. as you have now 
said, seeing you, and all the bishops of the realm, have now, for 
twenty years long, preached, and some of you also written to 
the contrary 5 and the parliament hath, so long ago, condescend- 
ed unto it." Here Mr Rogers was interrupted; he was treading 
on the corns of the clergy, opening up their sores, and exposing 
that vile hypocrisy, and shameless villany, that interest, honour, 
and royal favour, had induced the bishops of England to exer- 
cise against their stedfast brethren, for avowing and defending 
the doctrines which they had for so many years preached, and 
at last so meanly abandoned. But he was not permitted to 
make any farther defence, either for himself or the doctrines 
he held forth. Again, on the ninth of the same month, he was 
called before the bishops, where he was condemned for an he- 
retic, and his sentence pronounced by Gardiner, in the follow- 
ing words: 

" In the name of God, Amen. We, Stephen, by the permis- 
sion of God, bishop of Winchester, &c. &c. do find, that thou 
hast taught, holden, and affirmed, and obstinately defended di- 
verse errors, heresies, and damnable opinions, contrary to the 
doctrine and determination of the holy church; as namely these, 
fi That the catholic church of Rome is the church of antichrist; 
item, That in the sacrament of the altar there is not sub- 
stantially, nor really, the natural body and blood of Christ/ 
We do therefore judge thee, and condemn thee, John Rogers, 
otherwise called Matthews, thy demerits and faults being ag- 
gravated, through thy damnable obstinacy, as guilty of most 
detestable heresies, and as an obstinate impenitent sinner, re- 
fusing to return to the lap and unity of the holy mother church; 
and that thou hast been, and art, by law, excommunicate, and 
do pronounce and declare thee an excommunicate person. Also, 
we pronounce and declare, being an heretic, to be cast out from 
the church, and left unto the judgment of the secular power, 
by this our sentence definitive, which we here lay upon, and 
against thee, with sorrow of heart." 

On hearing this sentence, Mr Rogers attempted to speak, 



JOHN ROGERS. 119 

but was not permitted. He requested that his wife, a pool- 
stranger, might be permitted to see him before his death. This 
also was denied him, and she was peremptorily prohibited. 
When returned to prison, he wrote the questions put by the 
bishops, on this and the preceding days, with his answers, so far 
as he had been permitted to speak, and what he intended to 
have answered, if suffered to proceed. From the great length 
of this article, we can only admit a short specimen, referring 
the curious reader to Mr Fox's Martyrology, where it is given 
at large. 

" The bishops," says he, " cry out, lo, these men will still be 
a John the Baptist, an apostle, a prophet, &c. I answer, we 
make not ourselves like unto them in the gifts and power of 
God, bestowed upon them to the working of miracles ; but that 
we are like them in believing the same doctrine, and in suffer- 
ing persecution and shame for the same. We preach their very 
doctrine, and none other : This we are able to prove from their 
writings, which I have proferred to do again and again by writ- 
ing. And, for this cause, we suffer the like reproach, shame, 
and rebuke of the world; suffering the same persecution, to the 
loss of our goods, and even of our lives; and to the forsaking 
(as our master Christ commandeth) father, mother, sister, 
brethren, wives, children, &c. being assured of a joyful resur- 
rection, and to be crowned in glory with them, according to 
the infallible promises made unto us in Christ, our only and all- 
sufficient Mediator, Reconciler, Priest, and Sacrifice : Who, 
for us, as well as them, hath pleased the Father, quieted and 
pacified his wrath against our sins; and, by imputation, hath 
made us without spot or wrinkle in his sight; although we, of 
and in ourselves, are polluted with many filthy sins, which, if 
the measureless unspeakable mercy and love of God in Christ 
did not put away, by not imputing them to us, would have 
brought us to everlasting damnation, and death pei^tual. In 
this, and in no other sense, do we affirm ourselves to be like 
Christ our head, his apostles, prophets, martyrs, and saints. 
And so far ought all Christians to be like them, according to 
the measure of faith, and the diversity of the gifts of the Spirit 
that God hath given unto them. 

"But let us now consider, that if it be God's good- will and 
pleasure to give the members of his beloved church into the 
hands of their enemies, it is to chasten, try, and prove them, to 
bring them to an unfeigned acknowledgment of their natural 
perverseness and disobedience towards God and his command- 
ments, as touching their love of God, their brethren and neigh- 
bours; and to shew them their natural inclination and readiness 
to seek their own ease and pleasure, and to desire that good 



120 MEMOIR OF 

from the creature which God has forbid, as only to be found 
in himself And in order, that having fallen into gross out- 
ward sins, like David, Peter, and others, they may be brought 
to a true and earnest repentance, and to sigh and cry for the 
forgiveness of the same, and for the aid of the Spirit, daily to 
mortify and subdue all evil desires and affections in future. 
And many other wise and gracious purposes of the Lord con- 
cerning his people are answered by their being often put into 
the furnace of affliction. But let us also consider what he 
doth with those enemies into whose hands he giveth his tender 
darlings to be chastened and tried. In truth, he does but chas- 
ten and cross them for a little while, according to his fatherly 
love and good pleasure, as all fathers do their children (Heb. 
xii. and Pro v. iii.); but he utterly destroyeth, yea, and everlast- 
ingly damneth, their impenitent enemies. 

" Let Herod tell me what he got by killing James, and by 
persecuting Peter, and Christ's tender darlings and beloved 
spouse, his church ? Verily God thought him not worthy to 
have death ministered by men or angels, or any other creature, 
than those small, filthy vermin, lice and worms, which were or- 
dained to destroy his beastly tyrannous body. Pharaoh and 
Nebuchadnezzar, with all their pride and might, must at length 
let God's favourite people go freely out of their land, from their 
bands and cruelty : For when they could obtain nothing but 
counterfeit mercies, like those of our day *, namely, extreme 
cruelties and death, then did God arise, as one awoke out of 
sleep, and destroyed those enemies of his flock with a mighty 
hand, and stretched-out arm. When Pharaoh grievously op- 
pressed the poor Israelites with intolerable labours and heavy 
burdens, his courtiers noised abroad his tender mercies towards 
them, in suffering them to live in the land, and in setting them 
to work, that they might get their livings; for, if he should 
thrust them out of his land, they must be no better than vaga- 
bonds and runagates. Have we not the like examples now-a- 
days? O that I had now time to write certain things pertain- 
ing to the bishop of Winchester's mercy ! I have not time to 
speak how merciful he hath been to me and to my good brethren, 
and to the duke of Suffolk's most innocent daughter, and her 
innocent husband : O that I had time to paint it in its proper 
colours ! but there are many that can do it better than I, who 
shall live when I am dead. Pharaoh had his plagues; and his 
once most flourishing land utterly destroyed, on account of hy- 
pocrisy and counterfeit mercy, which was no other than cruelty 
and abominable tyranny. And think ye, that the bloody 

* Alluding to the hypocritical pretensions of sorrow they were in the habit of ex- 
pressing for the victims of their inveterate malice. 



JOHN ROGERS. 121 

butcherly bishop of Winchester, and his bloody brethren, shall 
escape ? Or that England, for their offences, and especially for 
the maintenance of their idolatry, and wilful following of 
them in it, shall not abide as great brunts? Yes, undoubt- 
edly. 

" If God look not mercifully upon England, the seeds of ut- 
ter destruction are already sown in it by these hypocritical ty- 
rants and antichristian prelates, papists, and double traitors to 
their country : And yet they speak of mercy, of blessing, of 
the catholic church, of unity, of power, and of strengthening 
the realm ! This double dissimulation will appear in the day of 
the Lord's visitation, when those crown-shorn captains, who 
have shewn no mercy to the poor godly sufferers of this realm, 
shall have judgment without mercy." 

On Monday morning, the 4th of February, Mr Rogers was 
awakened from a sound sleep by the keeper's wife, who warned 
him to make haste in preparing himself for his latter end. If 
it be so, said he, I need not tie my points. He was then taken 
before bishop Bonner, who degraded him. Here he requested 
the bishop that his wife might be allowed to speak with him be- 
fore he suffered. This small favour being also denied him, he 
added, you thus evidence the extent of your charity ! The hour 
arrived, Rogers was brought out of Newgate, and delivered up 
to the sheriffs of London. One of them said, Mr Rogers, Will 
you revoke your abominable doctrine, and your evil opinion of 
the sacrament of the altar ? What I have preached, said Mr 
Rogers, I am ready to seal with my blood. Then thou art an 
heretic, said the sheriff. That will be known, said Rogers, at 
the last judgment. Well, said the sheriff, I will not pray for 
thee. But I will pray for thee, said Mr Rogers; and so pro- 
ceeded towards Smithfield, reciting the 51st Psalm; while the 
people, rejoicing at his stedfastness, gave thanks to God for the 
fortitude with which he inspired him. His wife, with ten chil- 
dren by her side, and one at her breast, met him by the way, 
being the only opportunity left of ever seeing one another in 
this life; and though it is difficult even to imagine any thing 
more tender and affecting than this parting scene, this last adieu 
to a beloved wife, and so numerous an offspring, all in tears; 
he stood the shock with the feelings of a father and husband, 
but with the unshaken confidence of a christian hero. When 
he came to the stake, having been indulged to speak only a few 
words, he very briefly admonished the people to hold fast the 
doctrines he had taught them, and for which he was now about 
to deliver up his body to the flames, as an evidence of his belief 
of their truth and infinite importance. He was again offered a 
pardon on condition of recanting. This he again rejected with 



122 MEMOIR OF JOHN ROGERS. 

christian magnanimity, and suffered with the most astonishing 
patience, washing his hands, as it were, in the flames, and 
ejaculating with his last breath, Lord Jesus, receive my 
spirit. 

During the eighteen months that Mr Rogers was held pris- 
oner, he was always cheerful, but intent on pushing forward 
every thing he undertook. He wrote much, especially his ex- 
aminations; which were wonderfully preserved, in spite of all 
the watchful care of his enemies to prevent any of his papers 
from finding the way from his cell. This is supposed to be one 
reason for prohibiting his wife or his friends from visiting him 
in prison. Moreover, they searched his room frequently; and 
so soon as he left it for Smithfield, it was again subjected to a 
thorough investigation; but nothing found. They therefore 
readily permitted his wife and son Daniel to enter the apart- 
ment on their return from Smithfield, who looked into every 
corner; but found nothing, and were coming away, when Da- 
niel observed something in a dark neuk, under a pair of stairs ? 
that attracted his attention ; and on exploring it, found his ex- 
aminations and his other writings, to which the reader has been 
referred. 

Mr Rogers was a man of singular charity to the poor and 
needy. He agreed with Mr Hooper, and others in prison, to 
confine themselves to one meal a-day, that the rest might be 
given to the prisoners on the debtor's side, who were literally 
starving; but the cruel keeper, it was afterwards discovered, 
withheld it from them. It was supposed that Hooper and 
Rogers would be burned together; and with this opinion^ Rog- 
ers, the Sunday before he suffered, drank to Hooper, whose 
room was just below, and desired the keeper to tell him, " there 
never was a little fellow would better stick to a man than he 
would to Mr Hooper." 

Thus died, triumphant in the faith of the blessed gospel, John 
Rogers, the first martyr who suffered under the tyrannical, but 
short reign of the bigoted Queen Mary; and by his death de- 
monstrated the reality of the ancient observation, that the blood 
of the saints is the seed of the church ; for instead of being in- 
timidated by the severity of his sufferings, multitudes were en- 
couraged by his magnanimous example; and many, who had no 
religion, were led to inquire into the cause for which pious, 
learned, and benevolent men, were so contented to lay down 
their lives; and thus changed from atheists or catholics, by the 
grace of God, to the profession of that gospel, which, as it dis- 
covered the fallacity of the Romish superstition, so it drew down 
the most inveterate and merciless resentment of her voluptuous 
ecclesiastics. 



123 



LAURENCE SAUNDERS. 

This distinguished individual was descended from an opu- 
lent family. He was educated at Eaton, and from thence 
chosen to king's college in Cambridge, where he prosecuted 
his studies for three years with the greatest assiduity and suc- 
cess. But his mother, anxious to improve his already affluent 
fortune, had him engaged as an apprentice to a capital mer- 
chant in London. His master, who was a sensible and serious 
man, soon perceived that Saunders had no relish for mercantile 
transactions, but that the bias of his inclination leaned to the 
schools; and presuming, from his apparent piety, and the moral 
propriety of his life, that God had more important work in re- 
serve for him, freely gave him up his indenture. Upon this 
agreeable change in the manner of his life, Saunders returned 
to Cambridge, and proceeded with his studies. He was a man 
exercised with sore temptations and inward conflicts; but gra- 
ciously supported by the grace of God under these heavy afflic- 
tions; which qualified him, by experience, how to minister com- 
fort to others under similar cases of mental distress. He re- 
mained at Cambridge, after he had taken his degree of Master 
of Arte, for some considerable time; and in the reign of Edward 
VI. entered into holy orders. He was first appointed lecturer 
of Fathringhay, and married about the same period. He was 
afterward made reader in the cathedral of Litchfield, where his 
labours were blessed of God to the conversion of many to the 
christian life and manners; while his exemplary conversation, 
and active exertions in his Master's vineyard, gained him a 
good report even from his adversaries. After this he was re- 
moved to Churchlangton in Leicestershire; and, lastly, to All- 
hallows in Bread Street, London. He intended to resign his 
office in Churchlangton; but Mary coming to the throne, he 
was aware that his room would be filled up with a papist; to 
prevent which he continued to retain his office. In his way 
thither from London, he preached at Northampton, where he 
boldly testified against the errors of the popish religion, which 
he could easily perceive were about to be restored to the 
church ; warning his audience of the visitation of God that 
England was threatened with, for her lukewarm indifference in 
the cause of Christ, and the privileges of his glorious gospel, 
so plentifully administered amongst them. Foreseeing the evils 
that were approaching, he applied himself, with more than or- 
dinary diligence, in confirming his people in the truth, and to 
arm them against the delusions of the Roman idolatry. But 
the queen's proclamation, prohibiting all such preaching, had 



124 MEMOIR OF 

been emitted some time before this; he was accordingly oppos- 
ed, and finally restrained by open violence. His friends, per- 
ceiving the danger to which his faithfulness had subjected him, 
seriously advised him to leave the kingdom; but to this he 
would by no means consent, but straightway set out for Lon- 
don to visit his flock in Bread Street. In his way to the me- 
tropolis, he was overtaken by the queen's counsellor, Mordaunt, 
who asked if it was him that preached in Bread Street at such 
a time ? And being answered in the affirmative, was asked, Will 
you there preach so again ? Yes, said Saunders, to-morrow you 
may hear me there, where I mean to confirm all that I then ad- 
vanced. I would advise you, said Mordaunt, to forbear. If 
you forbid me by lawful authority, said Saunders, then I must 
forbear. Nay, said the other, I shall not forbid thee; so they 
parted. The next day, being Sunday, he expounded the xith 
chapter of the second Epistle to the Corinthians; designing, in 
the afternoon, to give his people another exhortation; but when 
he came to church, he was seized by the bishop of London's 
officer, and carried before him, Mordaunt, and some of the 
bishop's chaplains. 

Bonner charged him with the unpardonable crime of heresy; 
and to put a better face on this unpopular cause, added to he- 
resy the weighty crimes of sedition and treason; at the same 
time demanding his opinion, in writing, on the doctrine of 
tran substantiation; with which he was forced to comply. You 
seek my life, and you shall have it, said Saunders; and I pray 
God you may be so baptized in my blood, that you may for ever 
after loathe such cruel proceedings, and become a better man. 
Bonner sent him to bishop Gardiner, where he was kept stand- 
ing at the door of the room, for the space of four hours, uncov- 
ered. At length the bishop, returning from court, ordered him 
into a proper place for examination, where he proceeded in the 
following manner : 

How dare you to preach notwithstanding of the queen's pro- 
clamation to the contrary? Mr Saunders replied, because I 
am commanded by God; yea, woe unto me if I preach not the 
gospel, and obey the commandments of God in preference 
to those of men. A goodly conscience, to be sure, said the 
bishop. Is it not, Saunders, to make our queen a bastard or 
mis-begotten ? I deny the charge. It is not I who go about to 
make the queen base or mis-begotten; but let them look after 
the matter, who, to their shame and disgrace, have published 
the same to the world. This was a sore thrust at the bishop, 
who had prefaced the book of True Obedience, in which Mary 
was openly declared to be a bastard. We only preach, said 
Saunders, the word of God, which, though now prohibited to 



LAURENCE SAUNDERS. 125 

do, I trust that our blood shall hereafter preach an abundantly- 
more convincing and efficacious sermon. On which the bishop 
cried out, take away the frantic fool to prison. I thank my 
God, said Saunders, who has at last given me a place of rest 
and quietness, where I may pray for the conversion of your 
lordship. 

Mr Saunders was accordingly sent to prison, where he wrote 
a letter to the bishop of Winchester, in answer to several par- 
ticulars with which he had charged him. The following is all 
that has been preserved of said letter. 

" Respecting the cause of my imprisonment, I am not aware 
of having violated any law or proclamation. In my doctrine I 
have not, inasmuch as by the proclamation we were permitted 
to preach according to our consciences, and officiate in such 
services as were then established. My doctrine was according 
to my conscience, and the services were such as were then used 
in the church. Nor could my expounding the scriptures, in my 
own church at Bread Street, impartially considered, amount to 
the least breach; but, at all events, not to a wilful breach of 
said proclamation, seeing I caused no bells to be rung* occupi- 
ed no place in the pulpit after the order of the regular service. 
But granting that the proclamation had been violated to the 
full amoimt of the charge made against me, the long imprison- 
ment I have suffered is surely more than adequate to the of- 
fence. Touching the heresies with which I am charged, I 
answer, with Paul, this I confess, that after the way which you 
call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers; and herein I 
endeavour to keep a conscience void of offence, both towards 
God and man. Yes, my lord, I have a conscience, and that 
conscience is not satisfied with illusive fantasies, or my faith 
founded on the ordinances of men, but on the verity of the writ- 
ten word of God, who cannot lie, and the testimony of his 
church built on the same foundation. 

" The sheep of Christ's pasture can readily distinguish the 
voice of their shepherd from that of wolves, hirelings, and stran- 
gers; and knowing their Shepherd by his voice, him only will 
they follow, and that wherever he chooses to lead them. The 
wolf may appear in masquerade, he may dress himself in sheep's 
clothing; but his very voice betrays him to be a wolf in spite 
of all his hypocrisy. That the Romish religion is ravenous and 
wolfish, appears from a number of considerations; but especially 
from their idolatrous worshipping of beings that be no gods, 
their tyrannical assumptions over the rights of conscience, and 
their masses for the souls of the quick and the dead, whereby 
they crucify the Son of God afresh, and, in place of honouring, 
put him to an open shame. Having therefore weighed the 



126 MEMOIR OF 

Romish religion in the balance of God's verity, and found it 
wanting in its most essential points, and in others superfluous, 
the foundation false, and the superstructure vain; I adhere to 
that church, the foundation stone of which is Christ, whose 
only head, lord, and lawgiver is Christ, who feeds his flock like 
a shepherd, and, as Captain of their salvation, protects them from 
the secret frauds and open violence of all their enemies. And 
having thus cast in my lot amongst the humble followers of the 
Lamb, and joined the standard of my adorable Lord, I may not, 
and, by the help of his grace, / will not relinquish my place, nor 
betray my Commander, be the cost and consequences what they 
may." 

Mrs Saunders could not be admitted to see her husband 
while in prison. The goaler, however, on one occasion carried 
her child into his father. Some who were standing by, admir- 
ing the child, Mr Saunders said, he had rather have such a boy 
than be master of two thousand pounds. They urge me to re- 
cant, said he; and by so doing I must bastardise my son, make 
my wife a whore, and myself a whoremonger ! What man, that 
fears God, would not rather suffer death? If there were no 
more cogent reasons for a man of my estate losing his life, yet 
who would not give it to avouch the legitimacy of this child, 
and the honour of holy matrimony ? After having remained in 
prison fifteen months, Mr Saunders was brought before the 
queen's council, and examined by bishop Gardiner, Bonner, 
and others, in the following manner : 

Gardiner, It is well known, that the abominable heresies, 
and false doctrines you have disseminated, was the only cause 
of your imprisonment, and it is now thought expedient that 
mercy be extended to such as seek mercy; wherefore, if you 
will now conform to the established rule, mercy is at hand. We 
must acknowledge we have all of us fallen; but now we are 
risen again, and received into the holy catholic church. You 
must therefore rise with us, and come home from your unhappy 
wanderings. Give us your answer explicitly ? 

Saunders. My lord, if it please your honour, give me leave 
to speak with deliberation. 

Gard. Leave off your painting and rhetorical flourishes; you 
are all of you smit with the humour of pleasing yourselves with 
lofty words and high sounding epithets. Answer yea or nay. 

Saund. My lord, the present is no time for me to paint and 
polish my discourse, nor have I any cause to be pro>id. My 
learning, I confess, is but small, and my wealth is reduced to 
nothing; nevertheless, it behoves me to answer your queries 
with caution, exposed, as I am, to the danger of either losing 
my life, or sacrificing the peace and purity of my conscience; 



LAURENCE SAUNDERS. 1^7 

and, to tell you the truth, I am in love with both lifo and liberty, 
if these can be obtained without violating my conscience. 

Gard. Conscience ! you have no conscience but pride and 
arrogancy. Your schism from the church is merely the effect 
of your ambition, for being distinguished by a hypocritical 
singularity. 

Saund. God knows the consciences of all men, and in place 
of being a separatist to gratify my ambition, I deny the charge 
of at all separating from the church. I hold the same princi- 
ples, preach the same doctrines, and govern my life by the same 
maxims, acknowledged in the church of England. When I 
was fourteen years of age, I was taught that the pope of 
Rome was an usurper, and the Roman church a mass of cor- 
ruption and errors; which doctrines I have even received from 
your hands now present, as a matter agreed upon by the 
church, and confirmed by public authority. 

Gard, Yea, marry. But pray, have you also received your 
heretical sentiments, concerning the blessed sacrament of the 
altar, from consent and authority of the church and the state ? 

Saund. My lord, it is assuredly less offensive to cut off an 
hand, arm, or joint of a man, than to cut off his head, seeing 
he may live without one of these; but what man can live with- 
out his head ? But you formerly agreed, all of you, to cut off 
the head of the Roman church, and now again you are for re- 
storing it. 

Bishop of London. My lord, I have his own hand-writing 
against the blessed sacrament. What say you to that Saunders ? 

Saund. What I have written, I have written, and further 
I will not accuse myself. You cannot charge me with the 
breach of any of your laws since they were in force. 

Gard. Well, you are obstinate, and refuse liberty. 

Saund. I may not purchase liberty at such a price. But I 
beseech your honour to obtain such a pardon for us from the 
queen, as will enable us to live without having our conscien- 
ces clogged, and we will live as most obedient subjects. If 
this cannot be granted, I must say for myself, that by God's 
grace I will abide the extremity of your resentment, rather 
than act against the light of my conscience. 

Gard. Ah, sirrah ! you will live as you list. The Donatists 
affected a singularity of life; but indeed they were not fit to 
live upon the earth, neither are you, and that you shall know 
within these seven days. Away with him ! 

Saund. Welcome the will of God, be it life or death. I 
can tell you, with confidence, that I have learned to die. I 
would nevertheless exhort you to beware of shedding innocent 
blood. Truly it will cry aloud to heaven for vengeance against 
you. 



128 MEMOIR OF 

Mr Saunders was now removed to another apartment, to 
wait till some others were examined. Here finding a great 
number of people, he upbraided them with their defection from 
the cause of Christ, and earnestly entreated them to return to 
the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls; and in defiance of anti- 
christ, sin, death, and the devil, to confess him before a per- 
verse generation, and so live in the love, fear, and favour of 
God, and at peace with their own consciences. He was taken 
to the prison in Bread Street, out of which he preached to his 
parishioners, as he had formerly done out of his pulpit. 

On the 4th of February the bishop of London went to his 
prison and degraded him. On being stript of his clerical ha- 
biliments, he said, I thank God I am none of your church. 
Next morning the sheriff of London delivered him up to a party 
of the queen's guard, who had been appointed to conduct him 
to Coventry, where he was ordered to be burned. The first 
night they halted at St. Albans, where they were met by Mr 
Grimoald, a man of greater learning than fortitude or stedfast- 
ness; to whom, after reproving his unfaithfulness in the cause 
of Christ, he said, Will you pledge me out of this cup which I 
am about to drink ? Grimoald, shrugging up his shoulders, re- 
plied, Out of that cup in your hand I will pledge you with all 
my heart; but out of that other which you mean, I will not 
promise you. Well, said Saunders, my dear Lord and Redeemer 
drank for me an exceedingly more bitter cup, And shall I 
not pledge my gracious Saviour ? Yes, I hope I shall. At Cov- 
entry he was lodged among the common prisoners, where he 
spent the greater part of the night in prayer, and in instruct- 
ing or exhorting those about him. Here he said to a friend, I 
am the most unfit person that ever was called to perform the 
duties of this exalted office; but I trust my dear Father and 
tender-hearted Redeemer, who knows my weakness, will vouch- 
safe to afford me all necessary strength and resolution. 

The next day, being the 8th of February 1555, he was led 
to the place of execution, which was without the city. On his 
way, and within sight of the dreadful apparatus, the officer 
commanding told him, that notwithstanding the errors he had 
disseminated, and all he had done to disturb the realm, and 
mar the queen's government, he had a pardon for him in his 
pocket, which, upon his recantation, would be granted him 
with much pleasure. To this Saunders replied, It is not I, nor 
my fellow-labourers in the work of the gospel, but yourself, and 
such as you are, that disturb the realm, and mar the queen's 
government. I hold no heresies, but preach the ever-blessed 
gospel of Jesus Christ. It is that I hold, it is that I believe, it 
is that I have taught, and that, be assured, I will never renounce. 



LAURENCE SAUNDERS. 129 

Away with him, was the only reply; and Mr Saunders pro- 
ceeded with much apparent comfort and resolution. On reach- 
ing the fatal place, he kneeled down and prayed; after which, 
taking the stake to which he was to be chained in his arms, 
he kissed it, saying, Welcome the cross of Christ, Welcome ye 
faggots and ye flames destined to consume my mortal body; but 
which, in place of hurting, shall only serve to raise this immor- 
tal spirit to the mansions of glory and life everlasting. He was 
fastened to the stake, and the fire kindled; but the wood was 
green, which cruelly prolonged his torments, but at the same 
time verified the promise of God, that his grace shall be suffi- 
cient for his people, and his strength made perfect in their 
weakness. And this holy man, after enduring these lingering 
torments with more than human fortitude and resignation, 
sweetly fell asleep in Jesus. 

In the beginning of Mary's reign, Mr Saunders and Dr. 
Pendleton meeting one day, the conversation turned on the 
aspect of the times, and the great probability of a cruel perse- 
cution. Saunders seemed timid and fearful that he might not 
have fortitude to stand the severe trial to which their faithful- 
ness were likely to be exposed. What, man ! said Pendleton, 
I have much more reason to be afraid than you, I have a large 
fat body, yet will I see the last drop of this grease of mine 
melted away? and the last particle of this my flesh consumed 
to ashes, before I forsake Jesus Christ and his truth, which I 
have professed and preached. It was not long, however, till 
both were put to the trial, when the fearful and doubting 
Saunders, by the grace of God, sealed his testimony with his 
blood; while the self-sufficient Pendleton fell away and turned 
papist. So true it is, that the most confident in themselves are 
generally the first to shrink from a suffering lot, and make ship- 
wreck of their faith and profession. 

The letters written by this faithful martyr are numerous. 
The following extract will serve to show the temper and mind 
of this resolute contender for the faith of the saints. 

Extract from one of Mr Saunders' Letters. 
" My dear wife, and ye the rest of my friends, rejoice with 
me, I say rejoice, and be exceeding thankful for this my pre- 
sent promotion; that I, a most unworthy creature, should 
have been honoured to bear witness for the truths of my God, 
not only with these slow and uncircumcised lips, in proclaim- 
ing Ins message of mercy to perishing men, but also and espe- 
cially that I have been accounted worthy to seal his testimony 
with my blood, to the honour of my Redeemer, and the con- 
firmation of his true church. I am a prisoner, but enjoy the 
5 R 



130 MEMOIR OF 

liberty of the sons of God. I am alone, but CKrist is my com- 
panion in tribulation, my friend that sticketh closser than a 
brother; his presence fills my cup of consolation, that it runs 
over, insomuch, that I testify unto you, that my present com- 
forts, and glorious anticipations, have driven from my mind and 
imagination all the terrors of death and the grave. Were 
Christ to hide his countenance from me, alas ! I know what 
would be my poor condition; but should he thus, to try me, 
hide himself, I am assured he will not be long, or far away. 
Though he stand behind the wall, as Solomon says in his mysti- 
cal song, yet will he peep in by the hole in the door to see how I 
do. Like Joseph, though he should speak roughly to his brethren, 
and handle them hardly; yea, should he even threaten his best 
beloved brother Benjamin with grievous bondage, yet can he 
not contain himself from weeping with us, and upon us; from 
falling on our necks, and sweetly kissing us. Such, such a 
brother is Christ; wherefore come unto him, as Jacob did with 
his family; for Christ has so ordered matters, that Pharaoh, 
the blaspheming infidel, shall afford chariots to transport us to 
his heavenly kingdom. Witness how our very persecutors help 
us to a premature felicity, by the blood-thirsty despatch they 
make in executing their inveterate malice. 

" Be not afraid of the dangers that crowd the path of holi- 
ness. Fear God, tremble at the thought of everlasting burn- 
ings. Fear sin, the sting of death, terrible to all who are unac- 
quainted with Christ, the destroyer of death, and him that has 
the power of it. And, oh, my dear wife and friends, we, we 
whom God hath delivered from the power and prison of dark- 
ness, and translated into the kingdom of his dear Son, poor, 
despised, insulted, and persecuted as we are, even we have a 
glorious triumph yet in reserve, when the God of peace shall 
bruise satau, sin, death, hell, and damnation, under our feet, 
when we shall join with all those whom he has ransomed from 
the power of the grave, and redeemed from death, in the tri- 
umphant exclamation of the apostle, 6 Death, where is thy sting ? 
Hell, where is thy victory ?' 

" Wherefore, be merry, my dear wife, be merry, and all my 
dear fellow-heirs of the everlasting kingdom. Remember the 
Lord always; rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, continue 
in prayer, and pray for us now appointed to the slaughter, that 
we may be, unto our heavenly Father, an acceptable sacrifice. 
I can hardly find opportunity to write you; wherefore, let these 
few words be witness of my commendations to you, and all 
them that love us in the faith of the gospel, particularly my 
poor flock. Be not careful, good wife, but cast all your cares 
on God, and commend me to him in your prayers; and in the 



LAURENCE SAUNDERS. 181 

lively hope of being joined with yon in joy everlasting. Fare- 
well, dear wife; farewell, friends, dearly beloved in Christ. 
This hope is shut up in my bosom. Amen, amen, amen. 
Pray, pray." 



JOHN HOOPER, 

Bishop of Gloucester. 

This very learned divine was born in Somersetshire, 
1495. He was sent to Merton college, Cambridge, in 1514, 
about eighteen years of age, where he received his academical 
education under the tuition of his uncle John Hooper. He 
was admitted Bachelor of Arts, which was the highest degree 
he took at this university. What became of him from this 
time, for several years after, is uncertain. Some say he became 
a Cistercian monk, and continued so for some few years; but 
tired of a monastic life, he returned to Oxford, where he was 
converted by the writings of the German reformers, and be- 
came a zealous protestant. 

In 1539, when the statute of the six articles was put in exe- 
cution, he left Oxford, and became chaplain and steward to Sir 
Thomas Arundale, a gentleman of Devonshire, and a Roman 
catholic, who discovering that his chaplain was a reformer, 
declined being his protector; which obliged him to fly to France. 
Here he continued among the Hugonots, till his dislike of some 
of their proceedings induced him to return to his own country; 
where he was known, and soon found it impossible to remain 
in safety. Accordingly he assumed the dress and character of 
a sailor, hired a boat, passed into Ireland, from thence into 
Holland, and onward to Switzerland. Bullenger had, by this 
time, succeeded Zuinglius in the chair. He too had been forc- 
ed into exile for the same cause, and therefore gave a very friendly 
reception to this persecuted stranger, who was famed for his 
great proficiency in the Greek and Hebrew languages. During 
his residence at Zurich, Hooper, by the advice of his friend 
Bullenger, married a Burgundian lady. But the accession of 
Edward VI. to the throne, and the happy consequences of that 
event, removing his apprehensions of danger, he once more set 
his face towards England; where he arrived in safety, and set- 
tled in the metropolis. Here he preached to the people on va- 
rious points contended for by the reformers, particularly on the 
impropriety of pluralities in the church. He possessed a singu- 
lar sweetness of temper, and was highly respected by the re- 
formers, particularly such as inclined to the presbyterian form 



132 MEMOIR OF 

of government in the church. Hooper's residence among 
foreigners, where the presbyterian form of government was ge- 
nerally admitted, had given his mind a strong bias to that mode 
of discipline. He made the avoiding of all manner of "supersti- 
tion a matter of conscience, but was blamed for running into 
the opposite extreme, by opposing usages, which he himself ac- 
knowledged to be matter of indifference in themselves, and only 
became important in consequence of the injunctions of superi- 
ors. He was perfectly agreed with Cranmer and Ridley in 
the main points of the reformation, and equally zealous for its 
promotion; but having gone beyond their more limited views, 
they seem to have been doubtful of his principles. Hooper, 
however, was a worthy and conscientious man, had an un- 
blemished reputation, but singularly averse to every thing that 
had the appearance of useless pageantry and parade. He was 
a person of noble parts, singularly versed in the learned lan- 
guages, a good philosopher, but a far greater theologist; consi- 
dered, however, by his adversaries, too rigid a disciplinarian. 
He was now appointed chaplain to the duke of Somerset, and 
most probably treated with more severity on that account, after 
his patron came to lose the protectorship. In 1549 he accused 
bishop Bonner, who was deprived of his bishoprick. This ren- 
dered him obnoxious to the government of Queen Mary. 

After Hooper had practised himself some time in his popular 
mode of preaching, he was called to preach before the king, 
who, in 1550, made him bishop of Gloucester; and about two 
years thereafter gave him the bishoprick of Worcester, to keep 
along with the former in commendam. The earl of Warwick 
recommended him to this preferment, as a man possessed of all 
the qualifications required by Paul in a good bishop. 

It was customary, at this time, for the bishops of England to 
wear the same, or similar garments, to those worn by the Rom- 
ish clergy : — a chymere, and under it a white rochet, then a 
mathematical cap with four angles, representing the world 
divided into four equal parts. These sacerdotal vestments 
Hooper considered as worse than useless, having been chiefly 
invented for the celebration of the mass, and used in that idola- 
trous service, he refused to wear them. Cranmer defended the 
vestments, on the ground that they were indifferent things in 
themselves, and having been long used in the church, and ad- 
mitted by the church of England, it became necessary that 
Hooper should conform to the law. Hooper absolutely refused 
a rochet; and Cranmer would not consecrate him without one. 
But the earl of Warwick, whose influence at court was, at that 
time, very powerful, wrote to the archbishop, requesting him 
not to insist on these ceremonies with Hooper, nor charge hini 



JOHN HOOPER. 133 

with an oath burdensome to his conscience. Some have con- 
ceived this to be the oath of supremacy; others, with greater 
probability, think it refers to the oath of canonical obedience to 
the archbishop, which naturally, at least in the present case, 
regarded the ceremonies in question. Warwick likewise pre- 
vailed on the king to write Cranmer on the same subject; which 
he did to the following effect : That he, the king, had chosen 
Hooper to the bishoprick of Gloucester, in consideration of 
his great learning, deep judgment, and long study, both in the 
scriptures and other profound sciences, which, together with 
his ready utterance, great discretion and honest life, peculiarly 
fitted him for such a vocation. Understanding also that cer- 
tain ceremonies, used in the consecration to the office of bishop, 
are offensive to his conscience, and that you hesitate to let them 
pass on the present occasion, lest you should fall in premunere 
of law; we have thought good, therefore, to dispense and dis- 
charge you from all dangers, pains, and forfeitures, for so omit- 
ting any of said ceremonies. This letter was dated Augt. 1550, 
and signed by the duke of Somerset and five other lords of 
council. But Cranmer insisted that Hooper should conform; 
and, in the meantime, debarred him from preaching, while the 
council confined him to his own house. After many arguments 
had been used on both sides, Hooper published a confession of 
his faith, wherein he complained of the privy council; upon 
which he was committed to the custody of the archbishop, who 
endeavoured in vain to wean him from his singularities. After 
this, he was, by an order of the council, lodged in the Fleet 
prison, where he remained till some time the following year. 
At last Hooper was deserted by his protector, the earl of War- 
wick, and brought before the council to explain himself on the 
difficulties he had started. Here he strongly objected to the 
oath to which his conformity would subject him, inasmuch as 
every oath ought to be sworn in the name of God, and of him 
alone; whereas that by which he was to be consecrated, was to 
be done in the name of God, the saints, and holy gospels. The 
king allowed that Hooper was in the right, and struck out the 
obnoxious words with his own hand, with a declaration, that 
an oath ought to be taken in the name of no creature whatsom- 
ever. The matter of the vestments was then compromised; 
Hooper was to wear them at his consecration, when he preach- 
ed before the king, in his own cathedral, and on all public occa- 
sions; other ceremonies were dispensed with. On these terms he 
was consecrated in the usual form, but lost much of his popularity 
by his acquiescence. This squabble introduced a controversy 
into the church of England, which, in place of subsiding, has 
increased with its years, and driven a large proportion of the 
people away from the dominant religion. 



134 MEMOIR OF 

Thus Hooper was at last consecrated bishop of Gloucester ; 
from which time forward he neglected the use of no means, 
within his reach, to train up his flock in the fear of God, and 
in the knowledge of the gospel of his grace. To the poor he was 
a powerful protector, and an hospitable benefactor. He preach- 
ed the word of truth in season and out of season ; was indefati- 
gable in rebuking, comforting, and instructing the people, and 
regarded with universal love and esteem. 

In 1553 the good king Edward died, and the protestant re- 
ligion in England was totally subverted. Hooper was one of 
the first sent for by Queen Mary to answer for his conduct in 
accusing her favourite bishop Bonner. In this precarious state 
of things, Hooper was advised to make his escape, but having 
determined to meet the storm, he replied, that once before he 
had taken to his heels, but that now he had resolved to remain, 
and live or die with his sheep. Accordingly he was brought 
to London by a pursuivant, and had a very unchristian recep- 
tion from the bishop of Winchester, who committed him to 
prison in the Fleet. Here he remained several months, during 
which he was several times examined and admonished to re- 
cant, but held fast to the profession of his faith without waver- 
ing. Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, and Ferrar, were imprisoned 
about the same time; while the archbishop of York, and the 
bishops of Bristol, Chester, and St. Davids, were deprived of 
their benefices for being married. The sees of Lincoln, Here- 
ford, and Gloucester, were declared vacant, because these 
bishops, according to the new doctrine, had misbehaved. 

And now the queen's new council began to proceed with 
vigour to put down what they called heresy, and to punish, ac- 
cording to the usage of the Roman church, all obstinate here- 
tics; when Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, were despatched 
to the convocation at Oxford, on the pretence of disputing with 
some of their members; where they all suffered martyrdom. 

The council having carried their purpose, on this occasion, 
so much to their own satisfaction, several bishops, and other 
eminent clergymen confined in Newgate, the Fleet, and the 
King's Bench prison, were intended for the victims of a similar 
stratagem to be played off at Cambridge; but the prisoners 
emitted a declaration, signed by Hooper, Ferrar, Coverdale 
bishop of Exeter, and seven divines, stating that they would 
not dispute unless by writing, excepting before the queen and 
her council, or one of the houses of parliament. To this declar- 
ation they added a summary of their belief, for which, they 
farther declared, that they were ready to offer their lives to the 
halter or the flames, as it might please God to appoint. This 
bold measure put an end to all future conferences in religion; 



JOHN HOOPER. 135 

their enemies, however, found other more efficacious means to 
silence them. 

It were endless, as well as unpleasant, to enumerate the hard- 
ships, deprivations, expulsions, examinations, and imprisonments 
to which the protestants, clergy and laity, women and men, were 
now subjected. The parliament supported the government, 
which drove on with more fury than good policy or discretion; 
and nothing was now to be heard but oratorial rant and florid 
declamations in favour of good old holy mother church, nothing 
to be seen on the streets but popish pageants, and pillories oc- 
cupied by protestants. But all these pompous exhibitions could 
not amuse, nor could their severities terrify or damp the spirit 
of the people. 

Gardiner cheerfully undertook the execution of the laws 
against heretics; but the council, finding that the people were 
neither to be terrified nor cajoled out of their religion, deter- 
mined to sacrifice the most popular of their preachers, as the 
first examples of what others had to expect, who held out 
against the Roman faith; and that Hooper, the most obnoxious 
to government, and perhaps also the most popular, should be 
made the leading sacrifice. 

He was called before the council, in consequence of this ar- 
rangement, on the 21st January 1555, where he was offered a 
pardon, not as bishop of Gloucester, but as John Hooper, clerk, 
providing he would acknowledge his heresies, recant and return 
to the bosom of the apostolic church. Hooper, on refusing to 
comply with the terms proposed, was charged with three articles 
of heresy, relating to marriage and divorce 3 and particularly 
with denying the real presence of Christ in the sacrament of 
the altar. He owned the charges brought against him, but of- 
fered to defend himself against all or any that would maintain 
the contrary doctrine. He behaved, on this occasion, with the 
greatest propriety towards the bishops; who nevertheless treated 
him with unmannerly scurrility, and remanded him to prison. 

As none had been more active or successful than Hooper in 
promoting the cause of reformation, he had thereby incurred 
the personal hatred of the popish and blood-thirsty bishops of 
London and Winchester; but he braved their malice, and in the 
face of every danger openly avowed his sentiments, and con- 
ducted himself with all the constancy of a primitive martyr. 
He kept up a correspondence with several of the protestants 
abroad, particularly with Bullenger, to whom he sent his wife 
Anne and her children. Bullenger wrote him a long letter 
from Zurich, dated October 10th, 1554, wherein he requests 
Hooper to commend him to the most reverend fathers and con- 
fessors of Christ, Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, exhorting 



136 MEMOIR OF 

them all to be strong in the Lord, to fight a good fight, and be 
faithful to the end, inasmuch as they had Christ for their cap- 
tain, and all the prophets, apostles, and martyrs, for their fel- 
low-soldiers. On the 22d of January he was again brought 
before the commissioners, where he was required to acknow- 
ledge the pope as head of the church. This he refused to do, see- 
ing the pope taught a doctrine in every respect contrary to, and 
subversive of, that taught by Christ, who was the only founda- 
tion, corner, and cope stone of God's building of mercy, the 
true church of Christ, who heareth the voice of her own hus- 
band, and his only, but listeneth not to the voice of strangers. 
He was ordered back to the Fleet, and brought before them 
again on the 28th,. together with Mr John Rogers, vicar of St. 
Sepulchre's, and reader of St. Paul's. They were both examin- 
ed, and ordered to be brought back next morning, in hopes that 
the awful sentence, with which they were threatened, might in- 
duce them to relent; but they had not so learned Christ. On 
their way to the Compter, whither they were conducted by the 
sheriff of London, Hooper said to Rogers, Come, brother Rogers, 
must we two lead the way in this affair, and be the first to fry 
these faggots ? Yes, sir, said Rogers, I think we must, and by 
God's grace we will. Fear not, said Hooper, but God will 
give grace sufficient for the occasion. 

Next morning they were brought before the commissioners, 
who sat in judgment in St. Mary Overy's church, where 
Hooper, who would by no means yield to their proposal of 
pardon, was condemned to be degraded, and sent to the Clink, 
a prison near to Gardiner's house; from whence he was, that 
same night, removed to Newgate, where he was kept close pris- 
oner for six days. 

As he was guarded along the streets, the people prayed for 
him, and dared to express their approbation of his integrity at 
the risk of their own safety, in the face of his enemies and per- 
secutors. During the few days that Hooper remained in New- 
gate, Bonner and his chaplains paid him several visits, using all 
means to recover him to the faith of their own church. They 
offered him wealth and preferment; which he rejected with scorn; 
and finding him inflexible, they meanly endeavoured to ruin 
his reputation amongst the reformers, by spreading a report 
that he had given in his recantation. This at last reaching his 
ears, the good man was exceedingly grieved, and on the 2d of 
February, wrote a letter, assuring the world that the report was 
utterly groundless, that the more he had been persecuted, the 
more he was confirmed in the protestant faith ; and that having 
heretofore taught the truths of God, and defended them both 
by his tongue and pen, so, in a short time, he would, by the 
grace of his Saviour, seal them with his blood. 



JOHN HOOPER. 137 

Bonner came to Newgate to perform the ceremony of de- 
gradation on Hooper, who was designated a presbyter, as it 
seems the appellation of bishop was considered, by these bloody 
monsters, an epithet too honourable for one who despised 
the holy vicar of Christ. Here Bonner, by his definitive 
sentence, pronounced him an open, obstinate, and incorri- 
gible heretic, and as such to be degraded from his order, and 
for these his demerits delivered over to the secular power. 
Rogers was degraded at the same time; and, as we have 
already seen, died a martyr at Smithfield; but the sapient bishop 
of Winchester was determined, since he had failed in his en- 
deavours to convert Hooper to his own religion, he should at 
least terrify the hearers of his doctrine by the severity of his 
torments; with this view he was appointed to be burnt in 
his own diocese. But the bishop was miserably disappointed, 
for the composure, fortitude, and dignified serenity with which 
he suffered, served to confirm the faith of the spectators, and 
convince them, that the cause for which such a learned and 
wise man could so cheerfully relinquish the honours and afflu- 
ence of the world, and thus submit to a death of all others the 
most inconceivably tormenting, must be good. 

In the order for his removal and execution at Gloucester, 
the sheriff is directed to call in people of respectability to assist 
at the execution; farther adding, that as the prisoner was a 
vain-glorious person, as all heretics are, that he should not be 
permitted to speak at large, neither on the road nor at the place 
of execution. He was highly pleased that his death had been 
appointed to take place at Gloucester, that those who heard his 
doctrines while living, might witness his sealing their veracity 
with his blood, not doubting but the Lord would enable him to 
finish his service like a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 

On the 5th of February, in the morning, while it was yet 
dark, he was brought to Fleet Street, where a body of the 
queen's guard received and escorted him to Gloucester. There 
he found all the citizens assembled to see him, who express- 
ed their sorrow for his situation in tears of bitter lamentation. 
Next morning some of his friends were permitted to see him, 
amongst whom was Sir Anthony Kingston, who found the 
good bishop at his prayers, and burst into tears, while he thus 
addressed him. I understand you are brought here to clje; but, 
alas ! sir, consider that life is sweet, and death bitter; and see- 
ing life can be obtained, accept of it for the present, hereafter it 
may do much good. I am indeed come here to suffer death, 
said Hooper, because I will not gainsay the truths I have for- 
merly taught in this diocese and elsewhere. I do not so much 
regard this death, nor so highly esteem this life, but that I 

5 s 



138 MEMOIR OF 

have finally resolved, through the strength of God's holy Spirit, 
to pass through the torments of the fire prepared for me, rather 
than deny the truths of his word. The same night he was com- 
mitted to the sheriffs of Gloucester, who, together with the mayor 
and aldermen, attended him with great respect. He thanked 
them for their civility, and requested the sheriff that there might 
be a quick fire, that the business might be short. I am not 
come here, said he, like one constrained to die; it is well known 
I had the offer, not only of life, but also wealth and preferment; 
but I am come willingly to offer and give my life for the truth, 
rather than consent to the wicked and papistical religion of the 
bishop of Rome, received, set forth, and supported by the ma- 
gistrates of England to the dishonour and high displeasure of 
God; and I trust to-morrow I shall die a faithful servant of 
Christ, and a loyal subject to the queen. He was not carried to 
the common jail, but lodged in the house of Mr Robert Ingram, 
where he spent the night in devotion. About eight next morn- 
ing, the commissioners appointed to superintend the execution 
came to the house, and at nine the bishop was brought down 
from his chamber by the sheriffs, who led him betwixt them to 
the stake. It was market-day, and about seven thousand 
people assembled; which observing, alas ! said he, Why are all 
these people here ? Perhaps they expect to hear something of 
what they have heard from me in time past; but, alas ! my 
mouth is now closed for ever, I am prohibited from uttering a 
word that can be of any service. But they know the cause for 
which I suffer. While I was their pastor, I preached and 
taught them the true and sincere doctrines of the word of God; 
and because I will not now declare the same to be heresy and a 
lie has this death been prepared for me. He was dressed in a 
gown of his landlord's, with a hat on his head, and a staff in 
his hand; as the sciatica, which he had contracted in prison, 
made him halt. He looked very pleasantly on such persons as 
he knew; but the multitude mourned for him all the way. 
When he came to the stake, which was opposite the college of 
Priests where he used to preach, he beheld the dreadful pre- 
parations with the utmost composure. When the iron work 
was brought, he desired them to take it away, saying, I doubt 
not that God will give me strength to abide the extremity of 
the fire without binding. The place was surrounded with spec- 
tators, and the priests of the college were in the chamber over the 
college gate. Thus denied the liberty of addressing the people, 
the bishop kneeled down to prayer, and beckoned to Mr Bridges, 
whom he knew, to hear it; which he did with great attention, 
and afterwards reported, that it was made on the whole creed, 
wherein he continued about half-an-hour, and declared his faith 



JOHN HOOPER. 139 

in the form of a prayer; in the middle of which a box was laid 
before him on a stool, containing' his pardon from the queen if 
he would recant. So soon as the bishop understood what lay 
before him, he cried out, If ye love my soul, away with it, 
away with it ! He was then permitted to proceed in prayer, 
which he concluded with these words, " Lord, I am hell, but 
thou art heaven. Thou art a gracious and merciful Redeemer, 
have mercy therefore upon me a most miserable and wretched 
offender, according to thy great mercy and inestimable good- 
ness. Thou art ascended into heaven, receive me to be a par- 
taker of thy joys, where thou sittest in equal glory with thy 
Father. Thou knowest for what I am come hither to suffer, 
and that the wicked persecute thy poor servant, not for my sins 
and transgressions against thee, but because I will not allow 
their wicked doings to the contaminating of thy blood, and the 
denial of the knowledge of thy truth, in which it pleased thee, 
by thy holy Spirit, to instruct me. Being thereunto called, 
with all the diligence so poor a creature could, thou knowest I 
have set forth thy glory. Thou seest, O my God, what terri- 
ble torments are prepared for thy poor creature, even such, O 
Lord, as none can patiently endure without thy strength; but 
what is impossible with man, is possible with thee. Strengthen 
me therefore in thy goodness, that I break not the rules of pa- 
tience, or assuage the terror of pain, as shall seem fittest for 
thy glory." 

Having concluded his prayer, the bishop prepared himself 
for the fire, by undressing to the shirt, which he trussed be- 
tween his legs. A flood of tears gushed from the eyes of 
the sorrowing multitude when they beheld him fastening 
to the stake. He pointed out the place where he wished the 
executioner to fire the faggots, which were soon kindled, but 
burnt badly; and the wind blowing away the flame, prevent- 
ed it from rising so as to suffocate or destroy his vitals; and 
notwithstanding that additional faggots were brought, still the 
wind carried aside the flame, which occasioned him a lingering 
and most excruciating death. He lived in the fire for almost 
three quarters of an hour; and, according to Mr Fox, without 
moving forward, backward, or to any side, till his under parts 
were consumed, and his bowels falling out; and even after one 
of his hands had dropped off, he continued to beat his breast 
with the other; nor ceased to pray and exhort the people, till his 
tongue, swoln with the violence of his agony, became incapable of 
utterance. During this terrible trial of faith and patience, he 
frequently cried out, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy 
on me; and the last words he was heard to utter were, Lord 
Jesus receive my spirit. 



140 MEMOIR OF 

Thus perished, in the flames of a relentless popish persecution, 
John Hooper, the pious and learned bishop of Gloucester, on 
the 9th of February 1555, and in the sixtieth year of his age. 
An active promoter of the reformation, a good-natured man, 
and an exemplary christian, who in his life exposed the cor- 
ruptions of the Romish church, and by his triumphant death 
discovered the weakness of her arm, and the impotence of her 
sanguinary malice. 

The following sentiments are part of a letter written by 
Hooper while in prison. 

" Imprisonment is painful, but liberty? on ill conditions, is 
worse. The prison stinks, yet not so much as the sweet houses 
where the fear of God is wanting. I must be alone and soli- 
tary; it is better so to be, and have God with me, than to be in 
bad company. The loss of goods is great, but the loss of grace 
and the favour of God is greater. I cannot tell how to answer 
before great men, and learned men; yet is it better to do that, 
than to stand naked before God's tribunal. I shall die by the 
hands of cruel men; but he is blessed who loseth his life, and 
findeth life eternal. There is neither felicity nor adversity in 
the world that is great, if it be weighed with the joys and pains 
of the world to come." 

He wrote twenty-four books and treatises while in prison, 
also, on the Sacrament, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Com- 
mandments. The rest of his works are chiefly the following : 
An Answer to Gardiner's Book, entitled, A Detection of the 
Devil's Sophistry. — A Declaration of Christ and his Offices. — 
Lesson of the Incarnation of Christ. — Sermons on Jonas. — A 
Godly Confession and Protestation of the Christian Faith. — 
Homily, to be read in the time of the pestilence. All these were 
wrote from 1549 to 1553; and lie afterwards wrote Epistola ad 
Episcopas, and an Exhortation to Patience, sent to his wife. — 
Sentences, wrote in prison. — Comfortable Expositions of the 
xxiii. Ixii. and Ixxiii. Psalms. — Annotations on the xiiith chapter 
of the Romans. — Twelve Lectures on the Creed.-— Declaration 
of the Ten Holy Commandments of Almighty God.— He also 
translated Tertullian's Second Book to his Wife, concerning 
the choice of a husband. 



ROWLAND TAYLOR, D. D. 

Hadley, in Suffolk, was one of the first towns in England 
that received the doctrines of the reformation. Mr Thomas 
Bilney, who suffered in the reign of Henry VIII., had for 



ROWLAND TAYLOR. 141 

some time been engaged in preaching the gospel in this town 
and neighbourhood, where, by the blessing of God on his inde- 
fatigable labours, the truths of Christ took such hold of the 
consciences of men, that an astonishing alteration was soon ef- 
fected throughout that parish, both with regard to faith and 
manners. The people became exceedingly well acquainted with 
the scriptures, women and men, and had their children and ser- 
vants brought up with such care, and so diligently instructed 
in the truths of tjie gospel, that in a short time the whole town 
seemed rather an university of learned men, than a town of in- 
dustrious mechanics. 

Rowland Taylor, the subject of the present memoir, a doctor 
both in civil and canon law, was rector of this parish. He is 
said to have possessed the piety of Calvin, with the intrepidity 
of Luther, and all that was orthodox in both these great men. 
The doctor was no sooner presented to the benefice of Hadley, 
than he repaired to his post, and resided amongst his parishion- 
ers, notwithstanding that he had the happiness of living with 
archbishop Cranmer at Lambeth. In the exercise of his office 
as a pastor, he not only laboured abundantly in the preaching 
of the word, but as becomes a shepherd of the flock of Christ, 
he was such an example to all, in word and conversation, in 
spirit, faith, and purity, that in a short time the people resorted 
to him in their difficulties, as children do to their father. To 
the poor who were blind, lame, sick, or aged and infirm, he 
acted the part of a tender father, a careful patron, and a dili- 
gent provider. The rich he stirred up to make a general pro- 
vision for them, to which he made liberal contributions. He 
was naturally of a modest and unassuming disposition, but bold 
in reproving sin, without respecting the person of even the 
greatest and most powerful, In this way the doctor continued 
to discharge the duties of his office, and conduct his flock 
through the thorny thickets of this evil world, all the days of 
good king Edward. But Queen Mary having mounted the 
throne, and restored the catholic religion, one Foster and John 
Clark, of Hadley, had concerted between them a plan which 
they conceived would ingratiate them with the men in power. 
This was to erect an altar in Dr. Taylor's church, for the pur- 
pose of publicly celebrating mass. With this view, they en- 
gaged John Averth, minister of Aldam, a dissembling papist, to 
bring the popish implements and garments, and a band of arm- 
ed papists, as a protecting guard while he officiated as priest. 
They proceeded to Hadley church in a body and rang the bell; 
which Dr. Taylor hearing while sitting in his study, thought 
it some parish business that required his attendance, and accord- 
ingly went to church, where, to his utter astonishment, he saw 



142 MEMOIR OF 

Averth dressed off with all his popish habiliments, and a broad 
newly shaven crown, ready to commence his idolatrous sacrifice; 
whom the doctor thus addressed : " Thou devil, who made thee 
so bold to enter into this church to profane and defile it with 
this abominable idolatry ? I command thee, thou popish wolf, 
in the name of God, to avoid hence, and not presume thus to 
poison Christ's flock." To which Foster replied, " Thou trai- 
tor, what doest thou here to let and disturb the queen's pro- 
ceedings?" After some farther altercation, the doctor was 
thrust out of the church, and a letter addressed to the chancel- 
lor, lodging in his court many false and grievous charges against 
this good man. 

The chancellor had no sooner read these charges, than he sent 
letters missive to Dr. Taylor, commanding his appearance be- 
fore him against a certain day, to answer, on his allegiance, to 
the complaints laid against him. On learning the critical situ- 
ation of the doctor, his friends entreated him to fly for his life, 
as they had no reason to hope either for justice or mercy. To 
such friendly entreaties he replied, I know my cause to be so 
good, and the truth so strong on my behalf, that I shall, by the 
help of God, appear before them, and to their face resist their 
false doings; for I believe I shall never again have an opportu- 
nity of rendering God and his church so essential service, nor 
so glorious a call, to witness for the truth of the gospel; there- 
fore pray for me, and I trust that God will so strengthen me 
by his Spirit, that mine enemies shall be ashamed of their evil 
proceedings. And when they farther urged him, that christians 
were admonished by Christ, when persecuted in one city, to 
flee to another; and that, by preserving his life, he might re- 
serve his usefulness for better times; he replied, I am old, and 
have already lived too long to see the abominations that have 
come upon us, the perjury, hypocrisy, and cruelty that over- 
spreads the land of my nativity. You may act according to 
your consciences; for my own part, I am resolved not to 
fly, God shall hereafter raise up teachers who shall instruct the 
people with more diligence and greater success than I have 
done; for God will not forsake his church, though for the pre- 
sent he try and correct her, and not without cause. 

Accordingly Dr. Taylor set out for London, attended by 
John Hull his servant, who, by the way, laboured to persuade 
his master to save himself from the impending storm, at the 
same time proffering him his service, though it was at the haz- 
ard of his life. Oh, John, said the good old man, shall I give 
way to thy counsel, and leave my flock in this danger. Re- 
member the good Shepherd, Christ, not only fed his flock, but 
laid down his life for his sheep. Him I must, and by the 



ROWLAND TAYLOR. 143 

strength of his grace, will follow; therefore, John, pray for me; 
and if at any time thou seest me weak, comfort me; but discou- 
rage me not in this my godly enterprise. 

The doctor, on his arrival at London, waited on the chancel- 
lor, who, in his brutal manner, saluted him with knave, trai- 
tor, heretic, and abundance more of similar epithets. The doctor 
listened with patience till he had drained his resources of abuse, 
and then replied, Please your lordship, I am neither a traitor 
nor heretic, but a true subject, and faithful christian man; and 
I am come, according to your orders, to learn what is your 
lordship's pleasure. Art thou come, thou villain ? How darest 
thou look me in the face for shame, after what thou hast done ? 
Knowest thou not who I am ? Yes, said the doctor, I know 
you well, you are Stephen Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, and 
lord chancellor, and but a man for all. If you expect that I 
should be afraid of your lordly looks, why is it that you are not 
afraid of God, so infinitely superior to your lordship. How 
dare you look in the face of any christian for very shame, hav- 
ing denied Christ your Saviour, and his word, and violated 
your own hand writing and oath, taken first to Henry VIII., 
and afterward to Edward his son ? With what countenance 
will you appear before the tribunal of him whom thou hast be- 
trayed, when he comes to judge the world, and do justice to his 
injured servants? Tush! Tush! cried the bishop, that was a 
Herod's oath, unlawful, and therefore deserving to be broken. 
I have done well in breaking it; and I thank God I am come 
home to our mother, the catholic church of Rome, and would 
that thou shouldst do so likewise. But, said the doctor, Christ 
will assuredly require it at your hands, as a lawful oath made to 
our liege lord the king, from which the pope, nor any power 
on earth, cannot absolve you. I see, said the bishop, thou art 
an arrogant knave, and a very fool; besides, thou art a married 
man, and hast, moreover, resisted the queen's orders, in not suf- 
fering the minister of Aldam to say mass in Hadley. It is 
true, my lord, I am a married man, and have nine children, all 
born in lawful matrimony, for which I am thankful to God, 
that has ordained wedlock, that every man may have his own 
wife, and not live in whoredom and adultery. As respecting 
the resisting of the queen's proceedings, know, my lord, that I 
am the minister of Hadley; and it is out of all right or con- 
science or law that any man should come into my charge with- 
out my knowledge or consent, and presume to infect my flock 
with the venom of this idolatrous mass. The bishop grew 
angry, and said, Thou art a blasphemous heretic indeed, that 
blasphemes the blessed sacrament (putting off his cap), and 
speakest against the holy mass, which is made a sacrifice for 



144< MEMOIR OF 

the living and the dead. Nay, said the doctor, I reverence the 
blessed sacrament, as a christian ought to reverence it, yet boldly 
assert, that Christ ordained the holy communion as a memorial 
of his death and passion, which, when we keep according to his 
institution, we by faith are made partakers of his body and blood, 
giving thanks for our redemption. That sacrifice which Christ 
offered up once for all, was of itself so full and perfect, that it 
was sufficient for all that believe on his name; and therefore no 
priest can offer him again, nor is there room left for any more 
propitiatory sacrifices, only a thankful remembrance of him 
whose blood was shed for our salvation. True, said the bishop, 
it is called a thanksgiving; but it is also a sacrifice propitiatory 
for the quick and dead, and that you shall confess ere you and 
I have done; and calling to his men, said, have this fellow 
hence, and carry him to the king's bench, and charge the keeper 
to have him close confined. 

Thus sent to prison, the doctor was held in custody almost 
two years, during which he was frequently examined respect- 
ing his faith, and as often witnessed a good confession before 
his adversaries. On the last day of January Dr. Taylor was 
examined, for the last time, before the bishops of London, Win- 
chester, Norwich, Salisbury, and Durham, who charged him 
with heresy and schism, requiring, at the same time, a deter- 
minate answer, whether he would submit himself to the Ro- 
man bishop, and recant his errors, otherwise they would pro- 
ceed against him by their laws, made since his imprisonment. 
The doctor told them, with a great deal of modest and becom- 
ing fortitude, that he would not depart from the truths he had 
preached in the days of king Edward, nor submit himself to the 
Roman antichrist; but thanked God, who had counted him wor- 
thy to suffer for his truth and name's sake. When the bishops 
found him so bold, stedfast, and inflexible, they pronounced the 
sentence of death upon him. To which he only replied, My lord, 
I doubt not but God will require my blood at your hands, and 
that the proudest of you all shall yet repent your falling off from 
Christ to antichrist, the tyranny you now exercise against the 
harmless flock of Christ, and the blood you have so wantonly 
shed throughout the land. He was remanded to prison, and 
the keeper ordered to confine him closser than ever. On his 
way back, the people crowded to see him; to whom he said, I 
thank God, good people, I am come away from them undefiled, 
and by the help of my God shall seal the truth of his word and 
gracious gospel with my blood. 

About a week after the condemnation of Dr. Taylor, bishop 
Bonner came to the prison to perform the ceremony of degra- 
dation, when the doctor refused to put on the popish vestments, 



ROWLAND TAYLOR. 145 

but had them put on him by force; which done, putting his 
hands on his sides, he strutted up and down the room, saying*, 
How say you, my lord, am not I a goodly fool ? How say you, 
my masters, were I now in Cheapside, should not I have boys 
in abundance to laugh at these apish toys and childish trumpery ? 
On which the bishop began to scrape his fingers and thumbs, 
and the crown of his head, and cursed him again and again. 
You may curse me, said the doctor, but what avails it when 
God will bless me. I have the witness of my conscience that 
you have done me wrong and violence; nevertheless, I pray 
God your sins may be forgiven you. But from the tyranny of 
the bishop of Rome, and his cruel coadjutors, good God deli- 
ver us. 

After his degradation he was sent to the king's bench, where 
he soon experienced the difference between the treatment of 
the keepers in the bishop's prison and those of the king. The 
former, like their merciless masters, were wicked and cruel; 
but the latter exercised towards their prisoners all the civility 
and humane kindness in their power; and here the doctor, 
through the courtesy of his new keeper, was indulged with a 
visit of his wife, his son Thomas, and his servant John Hull, to 
sup with him the evening before he suffered. Before supper 
he prayed with them; and when supper was over, walking up 
and down the room, he gave thanks to God for his goodness 
and his effectual calling, that he had afforded him strength to 
abide by his holy word. Then turning to his son, he thus ad- 
dressed the young man : My dear son, almighty God bless thee, 
and give thee his holy Spirit, to make thee a true servant of 
Christ, to teach thee his word, and to thy life's end constantly 
to stand by his truth; and, my dear son, see that thou fear the 
Lord always. Flee from sll sin and wicked living; be virtuous, 
serve God with daily prayer, and apply thyself to learning; and by 
all means prove obedient to thy mother, love her and serve her; 
be ruled by her now in thy youth, and in all things follow her 
good counsel. Beware of the lewd company of young men who 
fear not God, but follow their lusts and vain desires. Flee from 
whoredom, and hate all filthy living, remembering that I, thy 
father, die in defence of holy marriage : Another day, when God 
shall bless thee, love and cherish the poor people; and to be 
rich in alms account thy greatest riches; and when thy mother 
has waxed old, forsake her not, but provide for her to thy 
power, and see that she lack nothing; for so will God bless thee, 
and prosper the work of thy hands; which I pray God to 
grant thee. Then turning to his wife, he said, My dear wife, 
I have been a faithful yoke-fellow to you, and you have been 
the same to me; and the time is now come when I shall be 

6 T 



146 MEMOIR OF 

taken away from you. Continue stedfast, I beseech you, in the 
faith of the gospel, and in the fear and love of God. Keep 
yourself un-defiled with popish idolatry and superstition; and 
doubt not but God will be a merciful father to you, and to my 
poor children, whom I pray you to bring up in his fear, and in 
learning, to the utmost of your power; and O keep them from 
this Romish idolatry. 

Having ended his last and parting advice with the utmost 
tenderness and affection, they prayed together, and wept over 
each other in the most affecting manner. He gave his wife the 
prayer-book he had with him in prison; and to his son a book 
of remarkable sayings of the primitive martyrs, written in 
Latin, in the end of which he had written his last will and tes- 
tament : so they took their leave of him, under feelings which 
the reader may imagine, but which cannot be described. 

Next morning, at two o'clock, the sheriff and his officers ar- 
rived, and led the doctor to the sign of the wool-pack without 
Aldgate. His wife suspecting they would take him away while 
dark, watched all night in the neighbourhood, along with her 
daughter Mary, and a young maiden called Elizabeth, thirteen 
years of age, who had been brought up with them from a child. 
And when the sheriff, with his prisoner, came opposite where 
they were waiting, Elizabeth cried, O my dear father ! my dear 
father ! Mrs Taylor also called her husband by name, for it 
was very dark, being in the month of February. Dear wife, 
said the doctor, I am here, and so stood still. The sheriff's 
men were for pushing him forward; but the sheriff said, no, 
stop a little, and let him speak with his wife. He then took 
his little daughter Mary in his arms, and kneeled down, with 
his wife and Elizabeth, and prayed. The scene here was so 
moving, that the sheriff and some of his officers melted into 
tears. When they rose up from prayer, the doctor kissed his 
wife, shook hands with her, and said, farewell, dear wife, be of 
good comfort, for I enjoy a quiet and approving conscience, and 
God will raise up a father for my poor children. He took his 
little daughter again in his arms, kissed her, and said, God 
almighty bless thee, and make thee his faithful servant. He 
kissed Elizabeth, and said, God bless thee; and I pray all of you 
to stand strong and immoveable in the cause o( Christ and his 
blessed word, and keep clear of the idolatry of Rome. God be 
with thee, dear husband, said Mrs Taylor, I shall, with his 
help, meet thee at Hadley. But having followed them to 
the inn, and being observed by the sheriff, he ordered her to 
be confined till he returned from the execution, so that she be- 
held her loving husband no more. 

The doctor was put into a chamber, with a guard of four 



ROWLAND TAYLOR. 147 

men, where he gave himself wholly to prayer till eleven o'clock, 
when he was put on horseback, and led forth; where his ser- 
vant, with his son Thomas, was waiting. When the doctor 
saw them, he called for his son, and setting the child before him 
on his horse, he took off his hat, and said to the numerous 
spectators, Good people, this is my son, begotten of my body 
in lawful marriage; and this is one of the charges for which I 
am about to give myself to the flames; but God be thanked for 
the blessing of lawful matrimony. And lifting his eyes to hea- 
ven, he prayed for his son, and blessed him, and returned him 
to his servant, whom he shook by the hand, saying, farewell, 
John Hull, the faithfullest servant ever man had. 

They halted at Burntwood, where they had a close hood pre- 
pared for him, with openings for his eyes, and one for breath- 
ing. This was done to many of the martyrs, because it was 
understood that the cheerfulness and serenity of their counte- 
nances tended to confirm the protestants in the faith of the word 
of God, and in their abhorrence of popish cruelty; but notwith- 
standing their severity, the doctor was exceedingly cheerful on 
the way. He exhorted the sheriff and his men to repent and 
leave off their evil courses, in such an earnest and pathetic 
manner, that they frequently wept. In the evening they were 
met by the sheriff of Suffolk at Camelsford, where they all sup- 
ped together. After supper, the sheriff of Essex, supposing it 
might yet be possible to persuade the doctor to save himself 
from the cruel death that awaited him, expressed, in very hand- 
some terms, how sorry he and all the company present were for 
his situation; and urged him, by every possible consideration, 
yet to consider the ruin he was bringing on himself and family, 
and the loss the country would suffer in the event of his death, 
assuring him, that his advice was given with an honest heart, 
and with the most benevolent intentions; and so, said the 
sheriff, good doctor, I drink to you; and so we will all of us 
drink to you, said the company. When it came to the doctor's 
turn, he took the cup, and after a short pause, said, Mr Sheriff, 
and my masters all, I heartily thank you for your good-will. 
I have hearkened to your words, and marked well your coun- 
sels; and, to be plain with you, I perceive that I have been de- 
ceived myself, and that vast numbers at Hadley will also be de- 
ceived. God's blessing on your heart, said the sheriff, these are 
comfortable words; but pray explain yourself. You see, said 
the doctor, that I am a man of a large carcase, which I hoped 
would have been buried in Hadley church-yard, in which there 
are a vast number of worms, which should have had jolly feed- 
ing on this carrion; but now I and they shall both be disap- 
pointed, for this carcase shall be burnt to ashes. The fortitude 



Ii8 MEMOIR OF 

manifested in this explicit declaration, filled the company with 
sorrow and astonishment. 

The sheriff of Suffolk waited two days at Lanham, where he 
was joined by the magistrates and principal gentlemen of the 
county, who laboured to bring over the doctor to the Romish 
religion. They promised him great promotion, even a bishop- 
rick; but having counted the cost of a faithful testimony for 
Christ, all their entreaties were vain. When within two miles 
of Hadley, he expressed a desire to walk the rest of the way, 
and was permitted to dismount : On which he leaped as it were 
for joy; which the sheriff observing, said, well, Mr Doctor, how 
do you do now ? Never better, said he, God be praised, I am 
almost at home, and have only another stile or two to pass, 
when I shall arrive at my Father's house. Being told he 
should pass through Hadley, he thanked God that once more 
before his death he should see his flock, whom he heartily loved, 
and had truly taught, and prayed the Lord to keep them stedfast 
to his truth. 

The streets of Hadley were lined with men and women, both 
of town and country, who expressed their feelings in bitter 
lamentations and prayers, that God would strengthen him, and 
comfort his soul in the trying hour; to whom he frequently 
said, as he passed along, I have preached God's word and verity 
amongst you, and I am now come to testify, before the world, 
that I believe and adhere to the same, by suffering my body to 
be burnt to ashes in your presence. 

When he was come to Aldam common, the place of his exe- 
cution, he tore off the hood that covered his face; when it ap- 
peared, that the malicious Bonner, when degrading him, had 
endeavoured to disfigure him, by cutting off parts of his fine 
hair, and by tying other parts of it into knots. He then attempt- 
ed to speak to the people, but no sooner had he opened his lips, 
than some one or other thrust his tip-staff into his mouth. He 
asked leave of the sheriff; but was denied, and put in mind that 
he had made a promise of silence. It has been said that he was 
threatened with having his tongue cut out if he would not pro- 
mise to keep silence. He then put off his clothes to his shirt, 
and giving them away, cried, with a loud voice, Good peo- 
ple, I have taught you nothing but God's holy word, and those 
lessons which I have gathered out of God's blessed book, the 
holy bible: Upon which Holmes, one of the guard, who had be- 
haved cruelly to the Doctor all the way down, struck him on 
the head with a bludgeon, saying, Is this thy promise of silence, 
thou heretic. 

On finding that he would not be allowed to speak, the doc- 
tor kneeled down and prayed; after which he went to the stake 



ROWLAND TAYLOR. 149 

and kissed it. He was placed in a pitch-barrel, with his back 
upright against the stake, where, with his hands clasped to- 
gether, and his eyes lifted up to heaven, he continued praying. 
One of the men employed in making the fire threw a faggot at 
him, which wounded his head till the blood ran down his face, 
and besmeared his long and venerable beard. Friend, said the 
doctor, I have harm enough beside, what occasion was there 
for this ! Another hearing him say the psalm miserere in Eng- 
lish, said, Knave, speak Latin, or I will make thee. The fire 
being kindled, he continued in the same position, without mov- 
ing at all, praying and ejaculating, Merciful Father of heaven, 
for Jesus my Saviour's sake, receive my soul. At last one with 
a halbert beat out his brains, and his body fell into the fire. 
Thus died, for the cause of Christ and the rights of conscience, 
Rowland Taylor, an eminent preacher of righteousness, who 
cheerfully rejected proffered wealth, power and preferment, 
from the usurpers of his Master's prerogatives, choosing ra- 
ther to suffer affliction with the people of God than enjoy the 
pleasures of sin; accounting the reproach of Christ, and his per- 
secuted prophets, apostles, and martyrs, infinitely greater riches 
than the pretended vicar of Christ ever had to bestow. 

The last Will and Testament of Dr. Rowland Taylor, Parson ofHadley. 

" I say to my wife and children, the Lord hath given you 
unto me, and the Lord hath taken us away from one another; 
blessed be the name of the Lord. I believe them blessed who 
die in the Lord. God careth for sparrows and for the very 
hair of our heads. I have ever found him more faithful and 
favourable than any father or husband. Trust in him, believe in 
him, love, honour, and obey him, pray to him; for he hath promised 
to help in every time of need. I go, but do not consider me 
dead, for I shall never die. I only go before you. I go to the 
rest of my children, Susan, George, Helen, Robert, and Zach- 
ary, and you shall, all of you, in God's good time, follow after, 
where we shall meet again with joy unspeakable and full of 
glory. I have bequeathed you to him whose goodness is infi- 
nite, and whose power is equal to his goodness. Fear not. 

" I say to my friends in Hadley, and all others who have 
heard me preach, that I leave this world with a quiet con- 
science with regard to the doctrines I have taught them; for I 
have taught them these lessons that I gathered from the un- 
erring word of God; and therefore, if an angel from heaven 
should preach any other doctrine unto you, God's great curse 
fall on that preacher. Beware, for God's sake, that ye deny 
not the Saviour, nor decline from the truth of his gospel. For 
God's sake beware of popery, for though it lias the appearance 



150 MEMOIR OF 

of unity, yet this same unity is vanity and antichristianity, dia- 
metrically opposed to the faith aud verity that is in Christ Jesus. 
" The Lord grant all men his good and holy Spirit to increase 
their wisdom, to show them the vanities of time, and give them 
a relish for virtue, holiness, and the enjoyment of God and the 
heavenly company, through Jesus Christ, our only Mediator, 
Advocate, righteousness, life, santification, and hope. Amen, 



JOHN BRADFORD. 

Divine grace, though it does not absolutely change the 
natural temper of men, most assuredly moderates, corrects, and 
keeps the unruly passions from prevailing in the lives of the 
saints. Some men are naturally bold, fearless and firm; others 
timid, and possessing a softness of temperament, better calculated 
to conciliate friends, and convince them, by their unassuming 
and mild arguments, and for building up professors in the faith, 
than to war against the powers of darkness, or attack the strong 
holds of error and corruption. 

Of this last character was John Bradford, the subject of the 
present memoir, who, from the kindness and benevolence of his 
heart, and the purity of his life, obtained the epithet of the holy 
John Bradford. His worst enemies could lay nothing to his 
charge, except his protestant opinions and pious manner of life. 
They were so sadly nonplussed for excuses in putting this harm- 
less and universally beloved individual to death, that, like 
the Jews, they could only say, We have a law, and by our law 
he ought to die. 

He was born at Manchester in Lancashire. His parents 
brought him up in learning from his childhood; and when he 
had acquired the knowledge of the Latin tongue, being an ex- 
pert penman, steady and industrious in his habits, he was en- 
gaged with Sir John Harrington, treasurer to the king's camps 
and buildings, as clerk. Sir John had such early proofs of his 
talents and integrity, both at home and abroad, as induced him 
to entrust Mr Bradford with the management of his most im- 
portant affairs; and found them better transacted than he could 
have done them himself. Here Mr Bradford continued for se- 
veral years, and was in a promising way for making his for- 
tune : But God touched his heart, and turned his attention from 
the bustling scenes of the present life, to the contemplation of 
the world to come. No sooner had Mr Bradford tasted that the 
Lord was gracious, than he resolved to publish the gospel of 



JOHN BRADFORD. 151 

salvation to perishing sinners. Accordingly, having settled 
with his employer, he abandoned his worldly pursuits, and pro- 
ceeded to the university of Cambridge, to meditate on the word 
of God, and prosecute his studies in divinity. 

Here his progress in learning, and pious demeanour, was so 
satisfactory, that the university thought proper to confer on him 
the degree of Master of Arts in less than a year. Immediately 
after this, the master and fellows of Pembroke-hall chose him 
to a fellowship in their college; and that great man, Martin 
Bucer, had such a favourable opinion of his talents and sincerity, 
that he endeavoured to persuade him to preach; but Mr Brad- 
ford declined it, supposing himself still deficient in the learning 
necessary for an undertaking so responsible. What ! said Bucer, 
if you cannot feed them with the finest of the wheat, yet give the 
starving people such as you have, were it barley bread. While 
Mr Bradford was thus persuaded to enter into the ministry? Dr. 
Ridley, bishop of London, made him a prebend of St. Paul's; 
where he continued preaching the word, sharply reproving sin- 
ners, and in defending the truth against the errors and heresies 
of the time. And even after Queen Mary was seated on the 
throne, he continued to preach to the people, as he had hereto- 
fore done, till those in power unjustly persecuted him, and sent 
him prisoner to the tower. 

On Sunday, the 13th of August, in the first year of Queen 
Mary's reign, Dr. Bourne, then bishop of Bath and Wells, made 
a sermon at Paul's Cross, wherein he railed against King Ed- 
ward, then dead, and so coarsely handled the reformation and 
the reformers, that the patience of the common people gave 
way to rage and resentment, and a very great uproar was rais- 
ed among the congregation then present, insomuch that the lord 
mayor and all his officers could not silence it. Such was the 
tumult, that one of the people threw a dagger at the preacher's 
head, which narrowly missed him ; and we are told the people 
would have torn him to pieces had not Mr Bradford harangued 
them so long on the propriety of peace and good order, that at 
last they became quiet, and went away peaceably; yet, notwith- 
standing that the mob was greatly dispersed, Mr Bourne would 
not remove for fear of his life, till Mr Bradford and Mr Rog- 
ers conducted him to the grammar school, which was hard by, 
at the peril of their lives; and as a reward for their disinterested 
kindness, both these generous individuals were brought to the 
stake. About three days after this, Mr Bradford was sent to 
the tower of London, where the queen at that time resided, 
and ordered to appear before the council. He was charged 
with sedition at the uproar which he had been the means of 
pacifying, and of saving the life of bishop Bourne. He was re- 



152 MEMOIR OF 

moved from the tower, aucl tossed about from one prison to 
another for almost two years. After his condemnation, he was 
taken from the king's bench Southwark to the compter in 
London. During his confinement in each of these places, he 
preached twice a day, unless prevented by sickness, where he 
frequently celebrated the Lord's supper; and the keepers were 
so kind as permit many people to come to the sermons and the 
sacrament, so that his chamber was generally filled, on these 
occasions, with serious christians. His credit with the keeper 
was such, that he was permitted to go abroad any evening, on 
his bare promise to return by such an hour; which he at no 
time overstepped, though no guard attended him. 

He was so well respected by all good men, that many who 
knew him only by report, greatly lamented his death; even the 
papists, many of them were sorry that he was not spared. In 
my conscience, said bishop Ridley, on a former occasion, I con- 
sider Mr Bradford more worthy to be a bishop than many of 
us bishops are to be parish priests. About twelve o'clock at 
night, when it was thought nobody would be on the streets, he 
was removed to Newgate; but contrary to their expectation, 
the streets were crowded with people, who waited to see him 
pass and take farewell; which they did with prayers and many 
tears, and he took his leave of them in the same affectionate 
manner, exhorting them to be strong in the Lord, and praying 
that he would bless them, and keep them stedfast in the truth. 
A report had gone abroad that he was to be burned at Smith- 
field at four in the morning, at which time the place was 
crowded; but Mr Bradford was not brought forward till nine. 
Passing through Newgate, he spied an old friend, to whom he 
called, and gave him his velvet cap and handkerchief, &c. A 
little after, his brother-in-law came up and shook him by the 
hand; for which Woodrooffe the sheriff struck him on the 
head, till the blood flew all about; and as they could not change 
many words, Mr Bradford desired to be remembered to his 
mother and friends, and advised him forthwith to go to a sur- 
geon. He was escorted by a strong guard of armed men; and 
when he arrived at the place where he was to suffer, he fell on 
his face and prayed; after which, he took one of the faggots and 
kissed it, also the stake; and having put off his clothes, he stood 
up by the stake, and lifting his eyes and hands toward heaven, 
said, O England ! England ! repent of thy sins — Repent ! re- 
pent ! beware of antichrists — take heed they do not deceive 
thee. Then turning round to John Leaf, a young man of 
twenty years of age, who suffered with him, he said, Brother, 
be of good comfort, for to-night we sup with Christ, where all 
our pains will terminate in pleasure ineffable, our warfare in 



JOHN BRADFORD. 153 

songs of joy, triumphant exultation, and never-ending tran- 
quillity. Having kissed the reeds, he exclaimed, " Strait is the 
gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life eternal." After 
this he was made fast to the stake and burnt, on the 1st of 
July 1555, and in the prime of his life. 

We shall now give some short account of his examination 
before the queen's council. On January 22d 1555, he was 
brought before Stephen Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, and 
the other commissioners appointed by the queen. When he 
came into the presence of the council, Gardiner told him, he had 
been a long time prisoner for his sedition at Paul's cross, also 
for his false preaching and arrogance, in presuming to preach 
without authority. But the time of mercy is now come, and if 
you will accept of it on the queen's terms, you will find, as we 
have found, I warrant you. 

Bradford. My lord, and lords all, I have indeed been long 
imprisoned, and with humility and reverence be it spoken, un- 
justly, inasmuch as I did nothing seditiously, falsely, or arro- 
gantly, either in word or deed, preaching or otherwise; but 
rather, as an obedient subject ought to do, endeavoured^ by de- 
claring the will of God, to restore peace and godly quietness to 
an enraged multitude, wherein, by the help of God, I was made 
instrumental in saving the life of Dr. Bourne, now bishop of 
Bath, and that at the peril of my life; as the bishop, were he 
present, could sufficiently attest. 

At these words the infamous Gardiner gave him the lie. 
The fact, said he, was seditious, as my lord of London can tes- 
tify. You say true, said Bonner, I saw him with mine own 
eyes, when he impudently took upon himself to rule and lead 
the people, thereby declaring that he was the author of the 
sedition. 

JBrad. My lords, notwithstanding of both my lord bishop's 
seeing and saying, Ihavetold you nothing but that which almighty 
God, before whom we must all of us one day appear, will re- 
veal in presence of all the children of men; in the meantime, 
seeing I cannot be believed, I must, nay, I am ready to suffer 
whatever God shall permit you to decree concerning me. 

Gardiner. I know thou hast a glorious tongue, and tells thy 
story well ; but all are lies. 

Brad. My lord, What I said before I say again. When we 
appear, as appear we must, all of us, before the tribunal of the 
great God, truth will then, as it is now, be truth, notwithstand- 
ing of all you may say against it. I took nothing upon myself, 
what I did was at the earnest request of Dr. Bourne, which, as 
I said before, he can, and I doubt not will, do me the justice 
to attest. 

6 u 



154 MEMOIR OF 

Gard. Well, to drop this matter, what sayest thou ? Wilt 
thou return and do as we have done, and receive the queen's 
mercy and pardon ? 

Brad, My lord, I thank my God, that my conscience does 
not accuse me of having said or done any thing that entitles me 
to punishment : I shall be glad, however, of the queen's favour 
on terms that correspond with my duty to him whose favour is 
life, but whose displeasure is worse than any death that mor- 
tals can inflict. 

Gard, Well, if thou make this babbling, rolling thy elo- 
quent tongue, and yet being altogether ignorant, and so vain- 
glorious, that thou wilt not receive the mercy now proffered 
thee, know, for truth, that the queen is minded to make a 
purgation of all such as thou art. 

Brad. The mercy of God I humbly request and desire, and 
would also be very thankful to the queen, for being permitted to 
live as an honest subject with a conscience unclogged; but 
otherwise I know into whose hand I have committed my life, 
and that without his permission none can take it away; his 
good pleasure therefore be done. Life, with his displeasure, is 
worse than death ; and his favour alone is that which enhances 
the value and felicity of life. 

Durham. Why, tell me what sayest thou about the present 
ministration of the communion. 

Brad. My lords, before I can answer your question, I must 
first have an answer to another which I am obliged to make. 
I have been six times sworn not to submit to any authority or 
jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome within this realm of England; 
now therefore, I beseech your lordships to tell me, whether you 
ask this question by his authority ? for if so, I dare not return 
an answer under such authority, unless I would be foresworn; 
which God forbid. 

Gard. Tush ! Herod's oaths, a man should make no con- 
science of them. 

Brad. These were no unlawful oaths, but plain-dealing oaths, 
corresponding with the word of God, as you yourself have well 
affirmed in your book Vera Obedientia. * 

Secretary Bourne. Yea, it has been reported, that he has 
done more mischief by his letters and counsel to those who came 
to him on the score of religion, than ever he had done while 
abroad preaching. In his letters he curseth all those who think 
otherwise than he preaches, and exhorts them to abide in the 

* This book of Gardiner's was written against the pope's supremacy, and fur- 
nished with a recommendatory preface by Bonner, during the quarrel between 
Henry VIII. and the Roman pontiff; both these ambitious ecclesiastics perceiving 
that the moment was propitious for procuring royal favour and consequent pre- 
ferment. 



JOHN BRADFORD. 155 

doctrines he and others of the same opinions has taught them. 
What say you, sir, have you not thus seditiously written and 
taught the people ? 

Brad. I have not written nor taught any thing seditiously, 
nor, thank God, have I admitted any seditious thought, nor, I 
hope, ever will. 

Secretary Bourne. Yea, but thou hast written letters. 
Gard. Why speakest thou not ? Hast thou not written as 
he saith? 

Brad. What I have written I have written. 
Southwell. Lord God, what an arrogant and stubborn boy 
is this, that so stoutly and dallyingly behaveth himself before 
the queen's council. 

Brad. My lords and masters : The Lord God, who is, and 
shall be the judge of us all, knoweth that I desire to behave 
myself, both before you and towards you, with all due reverence; 
if you are disposed to take it otherwise, I have no other means 
of convincing you. In the meantime, however, I shall suffer 
with patience all your hard sayings, and I hope also whatever 
you may be permitted to appoint concerning me. 

Gard. We shall never have done with thee I perceive now. 
Be short, be short, wilt thou accept of mercy ? Say now wilt 
thou? 

Brad. I pray God extend me .his mercy; and if therewith 
you also extend yours, I will by no means refuse it, otherwise 
I crave none. 

Here a great noise arose, some said one thing, and some 
another; while others accused him of arrogance in refusing the 
queen's mercy, which her majesty, in her great clemency, had 
held out to his very hand and acceptance. 

Brad. If I may live as a quiet subject, with a conscience 
unclogged, I shall heartily thank you for your moderation; and 
should I afterwards violate the laws, I must stand by their 
award. In the meantime, I only require the rights of a sub- 
ject till convicted of transgression. If I cannot obtain this, 
which hitherto I have not, then God's good pleasure be done. 

Gard. (to the under mar shall) — Ye shall take this man and 
keep him close, without conference with any but by your know- 
ledge, and suffer him not to write letters. And so they de- 
parted, Bradford looking as cheerful as any man could. He 
was again examined on the 9th of January; he was also exam- 
ined by two Spanish friars, and by Dr. Weston dean of West- 
minster; but he still held fast the profession of his faith without 
wavering; and, confident in the power and goodness of him in 
whom he believed, though naturally rather of a timid, modest, 
and retiring temperament, he acted on this occasion the part 



166 MEMOIR OF 

of a christian hero, and, as we have seen, triumphed over the 
power and malignity of all his antichristian adversaries. 

Mr Fox informs us, that he wrote, particularly while in pri- 
son, a number of treatises, of which the following have been 
published : Two Sermons, the first on Repentance, the second 
on the Lord's Supper — 2. An answer to two Letters upon the 
Lawfulness of attending Mass — 3. The Danger of attending 
Mass — 4. His Examination before the Officers — 5. Godly Me- 
ditations, made in prison, called his Short Prayers — 6. Truth's 
Complaints — 7. A Translation of Melanchthon on Prayer — 8. 
A Dialogue on Predestination and Free-will. 

Bradford's letters are numerous, and highly spiritual, well 
calculated to establish the people of God under the severity 
of their persecution. They are so truly excellent, that not- 
withstanding the rude style of these times, they are still read 
with edification and delight; even many of the papists were 
captivated with them. We shall here insert one as a speci- 
men of his manner. 

To my Dear Fathers, Dr. Cranmer, Dr. Ridley, and Dr. Latimer. 

"Jesus Emanuel! My dear fathers in the Lord, I be- 
seech our sweet Father, through Christ, to make per- 
fect the good he hath begun in us all. Amen. 
" I had thought that all of your staves had stood next to the 
door, but find I was mistaken. Our dear brother Rogers has 
broken the ice valiantly, as this day, I think, or to-morrow at the 
farthest, hearty Hooper, sincere Saunders, and trusty Taylor, 
end their course, and likewise receive their crown. The next 
am I, who am hourly looking for the porter to open the gates, 
that I may follow them into the desired rest. God forgive my 
ingratitude for this exceeding great mercy, that amongst so 
many thousands it hath pleased him to choose me for one in 
whom he will suffer. For although it be most true that I suf- 
fer justly; for I have been a great hypocrite, and a grievous 
sinner; the Lord pardon me; yea, he has done it, he has in- 
deed done it already; yet what evil has Christ done, Christ, 
whom the prelates persecute; and his verity, which they hate in 
me, have done no evil, and cannot therefore be deserving of 
death ? Therefore ought I most heartily to rejoice in the honour 
he has conferred on me, and the tender kindness he has thus 
vouchsafed towards me, in calling me to bear testimony to his 
truth against the enemies of his grace and glorious gospel; to 
his glory, to my everlasting consolation, to the edification of his 
church, and to the overthrow of antichrist, and the destruction 
of his kingdom of darkness. Oh ! what am I, Lord, that thou 
shouldst thus magnify so vile a man, so unworthy a wretch as 



JOHN BRADFORD. 157 

I have always been. Is this thy wont, to send, as thou didst for 
Elias, a fiery chariot, to fetch home to his Father's house such 
a prodigal as I have been. Oh ! dear fathers, be thankful for 
me; and for your own parts make ready, for we are only your 
gentlemen ushers. 6 The marriage of the Lamb is come, pre- 
pare for the wedding.' I am about to leave my flesh in a world 
where I received it; but I go to a better world, and shall be 
conveyed thither as Ignatius was at Rome. God grant it may 
make my persecutors better men. Amen. 

" I write, and send this my farewell to you,, trusting shortly 
to see you, where, having finished our warfare, we shall associ- 
ate with all those who have faithfully followed the banner of 
the Captain of our salvation, made perfect through suffering, 
and never again be called to the field. In the meantime I will 
not cease to commend you, as I have done, to our Father in 
heaven; and that you do so for me, I most sincerely beseech 
every one of you. You know that now I have most need of 
your prayers; but God is faithful, who will not suffer us to be 
burdened above what we are able to bear; he never did it here- 
tofore, nor now, and I am assured he never will. Amen. He 
is on my right hand, therefore shall I not be moved, wherefore 
my heart shall rejoice. Out of prison in haste, looking for the 
tormentor, February 8th, 1555. 



HUGH LATIMER, 

Bishop of Worcester. 

Of this plain, but pious divine, it may be said he was one 
of the most zealous and useful reformers of the church of Eng- 
land. His father, an honest farmer at Thurcaston, near mo ant 
Sorrel in Leicestershire, though he possessed no land of his own, 
lived in good repute. His farm was stocked with an hundred 
sheep and thirty cows. He employed six men, and furnished 
the king, on necessary occasions, with a man and horse armed 
for the field. He had six daughters, each of whom had five 
pounds of marriage portion; and the subject of the present me- 
moir, his only son, who was born in the farm-house about the 
year 1470, the 11th year of Edward IV. He was early put to 
school at Thurcaston, and afterward sent to Leicester; and 
being a very promising scholar, his father determined to bring 
him up for the church. With this view, so soon as the young 
man was qualified, he was sent to Cambridge in 1484, where, 
at the usual time, he took his degrees in arts; and entering into 
priests orders, became a warm defender of the religion of Rome 



158 MEMOIR OF 

against the reformed opinions, which at this time were becom- 
ing popular in England. He held the teachers of the new doc- 
trines in abhorrence, and heard them with indignation. In pub- 
lic and in private he cried them down; and so hateful were 
the principles they taught, that he declared it as his opi- 
nion, that the last times were come, that the day of judgment 
and the end of the world were certainly at hand. « Impiety," 
says he, "gains ground apace; and to what lengths may not 
men be expected to run, when they begin to question even the 
infallibility of the pope !" When the good Mr Stafford, divi- 
nity lecturer in Cambridge, read lectures in the schools, Lati- 
mer was sure to be there, driving forth the scholars. 

When he commenced bachelor of divinity, which was in 1515, 
in his 45th year, he took occasion to give an open testimony of 
his dislike to the reformation, in an oration, which he delivered 
against Philip Melanchthon, whom he treated with unmerci- 
ful severity for his impious innovations in religion. His zeal 
was so much taken notice of in the university, that he was, the 
year after, elected cross-bearer in all public processions; an 
employment which he accepted with reverence, and discharged 
with becoming solemnity for seven years. 

Among those who favoured the reformation about this time, 
the most conspicuous was Mr Thomas Bilney, who afterwards 
suffered at Smithfield. It was Latimer's happiness to be par- 
ticularly acquainted with this good man, who had conceived a 
very favourable opinion of Latimer. He had known his life 
in the university to be strictly moral and devout, and ascribed 
his failings to the genius of his religion; and notwithstanding 
the ardour and tenacity with which he held and defended the 
dogmas of the Roman church, he could perceive in him a can- 
dour of temper prejudiced by no sinister views, and an inte- 
grity, which gave hopes that he could not fail becoming a re- 
former. Induced by these favourable appearances, Mr Bilney 
took all proper occasions to introduce many things about cor- 
ruption in general, dropping some occasional hints respecting 
the corruptions of the Romish church. Having in so far pre- 
pared the way, he ventured at last to request Mr Latimer for 
once to divest his mind of all prejudice with respect to the doc- 
trines held by either party, and place both sides of the question 
in full view before him. In what manner these hints were re- 
ceived, we have no certain account, only we find, that his friend's 
labours were blessed to the conversion from popery of one of 
its most zealous members. This was in 1523, when Latimer was 
in his fifty-third year. Latimer no sooner ceased to be a zeal- 
ous advocate for the Roman church, than he proceeded on his 
reforming career with equal, if not with renovated assiduity. 



HUGH LATIMER. 159 

In a short time he made many converts, both in town and 
country, and not a few in the university. He preached in pub- 
lic, exhorted in private, and everywhere pressed the necessity 
of true faith and holiness of life, in opposition to the splendour 
of those outward and mechanical services, which had been long 
considered the very soul and essence of religion. Cambridge, 
like the rest of the kingdom, was at this time entirely popish. 
Latimer's behaviour was much taken notice of, and he soon 
came to learn that he had made himself peculiarly obnoxious 
by the method he had pursued. The first serious opposition he 
met with from the popish party, was occasioned by a course of 
sermons he preached before the university during the christmas 
holidays, in which he spoke his sentiments upon many opinions 
and usages maintained and practised in the Romish church ; and 
strongly contended, that the locking up of the scriptures from 
the people was a flagrant abuse of christian power and autho- 
rity, tending to perpetuate ignorance, and its natural consequen- 
ces, vice and all sorts of immorality. Few of the tenets of Rome 
were at this time questioned in England, unless they tended to 
relax the manners of the people. Tran substantiation, and other 
points more speculative, still maintained their ground. Mr 
Latimer therefore dwelt especially upon such tenets as tended 
to the dissolution of manners. He pointed out to the people 
what true religion was, and wherein it consisted : That it was 
seated in the heart, and always discovered itself by a life of 
holiness and sound morality : That it was the strait gate, and 
the narrow way to life everlasting, a precious peril of such in- 
estimable value, that, compared with it, external appointments 
were of no value whatever. But so great was the outcry 
against these discourses, that the cardinal erected a court, con- 
sisting of bishops, divines, and canonists, to put the laws in exe- 
cution against heretics. Tunstal was president of this court, 
and Bilney, Latimer, and two or three more were called before 
him. Bilney was considered the archheretic, of couise the 
rigour of the court was principally levelled against him : They 
succeeded, however, in persuading him to recant; accordingly 
he carried the faggot, a token of recantation and penance, and 
was dismissed. As for Latimer and the rest, they had easier 
terms. Tunstal omitted no opportunity of shewing mercy, and 
was dexterous at finding them; and the heretics returned to Cam- 
bridge, and were received by their friends with open arms. 
Amid this mutual gratulation, Bilney alone was unhappy; he 
shunned the sight of his acquaintances, and received their con- 
gratulations with confusion and blushes. Struck with remorse 
for what he had done, he became melancholy; and after leading 
a life for two years in all the austerity of a hermit, he resolved 



160 MEMOIR OF 

to take the field once more, and acknowledge the truth even 
unto death. Bilney's sufferings, instead of shocking and dis- 
couraging the reformers at Cambridge, inspired the leaders with 
renovated vigour. Latimer now began to exert himself more 
than he had yet done; and succeeded to that credit and reputa- 
tion which Bilney had long supported. He constantly preached 
in Dr. Barnes's church, and assisted him in his pastoral duties. 
Among other instances of his resolution and warm zeal, he gave 
one, which, considering the circumstances of the case, was 
truly remarkable. He had the courage to address his majesty, 
Henry VIII., against his proclamation just published, prohibiting 
the use of the bible in the mother-tongue, together with other 
religious books. He had preached before his majesty two or 
three times at Windsor, and had been taken notice of in a more 
affable manner than that monarch was generally accustomed to 
do towards his subjects; but whatever hopes his sovereign's fa- 
vour had inspired him with, he chose to put all to hazard when 
it came in competition with what he conceived to be his duty. 
He was generally considered as one of the most eminent of the 
reformers, and thought it therefore became him to be one of the 
most forward in opposing popery. His letter bespeaks an ho- 
nest and sincere heart; it was intended thereby to apprize the 
king of the danger of listening to all the intriguing insinuations 
of the bishops, and particularly their intentions in the procla- 
mation in question, and concluded in these terms : "Accept, 
gracious sovereign, without displeasure, what I have written. 
I thought it my duty to mention these things to your majesty. 
No personal quarrel, as God shall judge me, have I with any 
man; I wanted merely to induce your majesty to consider well 
what kind of persons you have about you, and the ends for 
which they give counsel. Indeed, great prince, many of them, 
or they are much slandered, have very private ends in view. 
God grant your majesty may see through the evil designs of 
wicked men, and be in all things equal to the high office with 
which you are invested : Wherefore, gracious king, remember 
yourself, have pity upon your own soul, and consider that the 
day is at hand when you must render an account of your 
office, and the blood which has been shed by your sword. On 
which important day, that your grace may stand stedfast and una- 
shamed, clear and ready in your reckoning, having your pardon 
sealed with the blood of our Saviour Christ, which alone can 
avail you on that decisive occasion, is my daily prayers to him 
who suffered death for our transgressions. May the Spirit of 
God preserve you." 

The influence of the popish party was so powerful at this 
time, that Latimer's letter produced little or no effect; never- 



HUGH LATIMER. 161 

theless the king received it, not only with temper, but also with 
uncommon condescension, and graciously thanked him for his 
well-intended advice. The king loved sincerity, and Latimer's 
plain and simple manner had formerly made a favourable im- 
pression upon him, which this letter contributed not a little to 
strengthen and improve; while his active and successful endea- 
vours, in establishing the king's supremacy in 1535, had rivetted 
him in the royal favour. Dr. Butts, the king's physician, hav- 
ing been sent to Cambridge on that business, as well as on the 
affair of the divorce, began to court the proiestant party, from 
whom the king expected the greatest and most stedfast support; 
and Mr Latimer was one of the first to whom he addressed 
himself, as a person most likely to afford him essential service 
in that delicate affair. He begged him to collect the opinion of 
his friends, and use his utmost endeavours to bring over the 
most eminent of those on the opposite side. Being a warm 
friend to the cause in which he had embarked; Latimer under- 
took the business with his usual zeal, and managed matters so 
much to the satisfaction of the doctor, that when that gentle- 
man returned to court,, he tools Mr Latimer along with him, 
with the intention ao doubt of procuring him a proper consider- 
ation. 

About this time lord Cromwell was rising into power, and 
being himself a friend to the reformation, encouraged such 
churchmen as were most inclined that way, and accordingly 
became the friend and patron of Mr Latimer, and very soon pro- 
cured for him the benefice of Westkingston in Wiltshire. Thi- 
ther Latimer resolved to repair, and watch over the welfare of 
his flock. Surprised at this resolution, his friend Dr, Butts did 
what he could to dissuade him from redding constantly amongst 
his people. "You are deserting," said the doctor, "the fairest 
opportunity of making your fortune. The prime minister only 
intends this as an earnest of his future favours, and will cer- 
tainly in time do much greater things for you; but you must 
know, that it is the manner of courts to consider them provided 
for who seem satisfied with what they have got; and, trust me, an 
absent claimant stands but a poor chance with a present rival." 
This the old courtier advised; but these considerations had no 
weight with Latimer, who was heartily tired of the court, 
where he saw so much irreligion and debauchery, without be- 
ing able to oppose them, having neither authority, nor, as he 
thought, talents to reclaim the great. 

The principal design of Cromwell and Dr. Butts in procur- 
ing Latimer this provision, was to encourage him in assisting 
them to render the king's supremacy acceptable to the people; 
for Mr Latimer was accounted the most diligent and popular 

6 x 



162 MEMOIR OF 

preacher in the kingdom. They were anxious therefore to per- 
suade him to exercise his talents in and about the metropolis; 
but Latimer had a very different view of the matter; his prin- 
cipal anxiety was to reclaim wandering sinners to Christ's fold; 
and, next to that consideration, he longed to retire from the 
bustle of a court, where, with the greatest concern, he daily be- 
held every vice triumphant, and malice, envy, detraction, and 
vanity, sweeping every thing before them. 

Having thus resolved, Mr Latimer bade adieu to the splen- 
dour of the palace and the vanity of the court, and entered im- 
mediately on the duties of his parish; and wherever he observ- 
ed the pastoral duties neglected, thither he extended his labours 
on all sides, having for that particular purpose procured a ge- 
neral licence from the university of Cambridge. Mr Latimer's 
mode of preaching being extremely popular, he was gladly re- 
ceived wherever he went. At Bristol, where he preached often, 
he was countenanced and much encouraged by the magistrates. 
But his reputation was too high for the popish party long to 
endure; and their malice was soon manifested. The mayor of 
Bristol had appointed him to preach in that city on easterday : 
Public intimation had been given, and the people were highly 
pleased, when, all of a sudden, an order was emitted, prohibit- 
ing any one to preach there without the bishop's licence. The 
clergy of the town waited upon Latimer, informed him of the 
bishop's order, and expressed their sorrow at being thereby pre- 
vented from hearing an excellent discourse. Mr Latimer re- 
ceived their compliments with a smile, having been apprized of 
the whole affair; and knowing that the reverend gentlemen, who 
thus pretended to lament the effects of the bishop's order, were 
the self-same individuals who had called it forth, by letters ad- 
dressed to him for that precise purpose. 

The opposition manifested against this singular man, and the 
truths he so boldly asserted, increased with his growing repu- 
tation. The pulpits began to circulate their malevolent invec- 
tives against him, and such liberties were taken with his cha- 
racter, that he considered it necessary to vindicate himself from 
the iujurious reflections with which his enemies had conspired 
to blast his honest fame. Accordingly, his calumniators were 
called before the mayor of Bristol, where his accusers were put 
to the proof; but could produce nothing but some loose and in- 
credible hearsay information. His enemies, however, were too 
inveterate to be thus silenced. They consisted chiefly of the 
country clergymen, headed by some divines of more eminence, 
who, after long and mature deliberation, drew up various arti- 
cles of accusation against him, extracted principally from his 
sermons; in which he was charged with speaking lightly of the 



HUGH LATIMER. 163 

worship ofsaints, with asserting that there was no material fire 
in hell, and that he would rather be in purgatory than in Lol- 
lard's tower. These charges being laid before the bishop of 
London, Mr Latimer was charged to appear before him, where, 
having appealed to his own ordinary, the bishop of London and 
some others were commissioned to examine him. His friends, 
aware of the danger to which he was exposed, advised and ear- 
nestly pressed him to save himself by retiring from the king- 
dom. But determined to face his adversaries, he took leave of 
his friends, and set out for London in the depth of winter, un- 
der a severe fit of the stone, and in the sixty-sixth year of his 
age. But the thought of leaving his parish exposed to the po- 
pish clergy hang heavy on his mind. On his arrival at Lon- 
don, a court of bishops and canonists were ready to receive him. 
Mr Latimer had reason to believe, from the accusations that 
had formerly been charged upon him, that his sermons would 
constitute the principal ground of their investigation. He was 
therefore not a little surprised to find a paper put into his 
hands, declaring his belief in. the efficacy of masses for the souls 
in purgatory; of prayers to dead saints; of pilgrimages to their 
sepulchres and relics : In the power of the pope to forgive sins; 
in the doctrine of merit; the seven sacraments; and the worship 
of images. This paper Latimer refused to subscribe; and the 
archbishop, with a frown on his countenance, begged he would 
consider what he did. " We have no intention," Mr Latimer, 
" continued he, to be hard upon you; we dismiss you for the 
present; take a copy of the articles, examine them carefully; 
and God grant, at our next meeting, we may find each other in 
better 1 temper. ,, At the next, and several subsequent meetings, 
the same farce was acted afresh. He continued inflexible, and 
they to distress him. Thrice a-week he was regularly called 
before them, with the design of either ensnaring him by cap- 
tious questions, or teazing him into compliance. Tired out at 
last with such vexatious usage, instead of answering their next 
summons, he sent a letter to the archbishop, in which, with 
great freedom, he informs him, that their former treatment had 
fretted him into such disorder, that he was unfit to attend 
them. That, in the meantime, he took the liberty of expostulat- 
ing with his grace for so long detaining him from discharging 
the duties of his oflftee : That to him it appeared the most un- 
accountable and preposterous thing in the world, that they, who 
never preached themselves, should prevent others, especially now 
that some abuses in religion were supposed to exist, whereas 
preaching was the best, and perhaps the only practical method 
for discountenancing them : That, with regard to their exami- 
nation, he was at a loss to conceive what they were aiming at; 



164 MEMOIR OF 

they pretended one thing at the beginning, and another in the 
progress : That if his sermons were offensive, which, however, 
he believed were neither contrary to truth or to any canon of 
the church, he was ready to answer whatever might be con- 
sidered exceptionable : That he wished they would pay a little 
more respect to the judgment of the people; and particularly, 
that they would make some reasonable distinction between the 
ordinances of God and those of man : That he was desirous all 
pastors might be obliged to do their duty; but, at any rate, that 
those who were willing to do theirs, should be rather encourag- 
ed than unnecessarily prevented : That respecting the articles 
proposed, he begged to be excused from subscribing them. He 
was determined, during life, he should at no time, and under 
no circumstances, become an abetter of superstition : That he 
hoped the archbishop would excuse the freedom with which he 
had written. He knew Ms duty to superiors; and in practice 
should not be wanting; but, In the present case, he was satisfied 
he lay under a much more important obligation. 

The bishops, nevertheless, continued their persecutions, till 
Latimer was relieved from their oppression by a very unex- 
pected hand. Informed, probably by lord Cromwell, of Lati- 
mer's ill usage, the king interposed, and rescued him from the 
hands of Ms enemies. Latimer was the very figure of simpli- 
city, and exhibiting such a reverend and apostolic appearance 
at court, attracted the particular notice of Anne Boleyn, the 
favourite wife of Henry, and a warm friend to the reformed 
religion. This amiable but unfortunate queen mentioned him 
to her reforming friends, as, in her opinion, equally, if not bet- 
ter qualified for forwarding the reformation than any sue had 
seen. Lord Cromwell raised him still higher in her estimation ; 
and both joined in recommending him to the king for a bishop- 
rick, who, perhaps recollecting the sincerity and simplicity of 
his admonitory letter, and former services done him, wanted lit- 
tle solicitation. The see of Worchester was accordingly offered 
him ; and Latimer, as he had been at no pains to procure this 
promotion, considered it the work of providence, and accepted 
the same. Indeed, considering the rough path he had already 
trode in the faithful performance of his duty, and observing the 
hazardous prospect before him in his old station, he found it 
necessary, both for his own safety, and the good of the church, 
to avail himself of this proffered acquisition of refuge and of 
power. 

In discharging the duties of his new office, all the historians 
of these times inform us, that Latimer was remarkably zealous. 
That in overlooking the clergy of his diocese, he was active, 
warm, and determined; and that, in presiding in his ecclesias- 



HUGH LATIMJER. 165 

tical courts, he evinced the same spirit. In ordaining, he was 
wary; in preaching, indefatigable; in reproving or exhorting, 
severe and persuasive. Thus far he could act with authority; 
but, with regard to the popish ceremonies, in times so unsettled 
and dangerous, he neither durst lay them wholly aside, nor was 
he willing to retain them. In this critical dilemma, his address 
was admirable. He inquired into their origin, and when he 
found any of them, as several had been introduced with a good 
meaning and intent, he was careful to inculcate their original, 
though a corruption, in place of a still more corrupt practice. 
Thus, for example, he would put the people in mind, that holy 
bread and holy water, which had been for ages considered as 
possessing a sort of magical influence, were nothing but simple 
bread and water. The one to put us in remembrance of the 
death of Christ, and that the other was merely a simple repre- 
sentation of the washing away our sins. Thus, by reducing 
popery to its first principles, he did what he could to improve 
a bad stock, by lopping off some of its hurtful excrescences. 

While thus exerting himself to reform his diocese, he was 
summoned to parliament and convocation in 1536. This ses- 
sion was considered by the protestant party as a crisis. At the 
head of the reformers otood lord Cromwell, whose favour with 
the king was row at its meridian; next to him, in power and 
influence, was Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury; and next to 
these, in consideration, stood our bishop of Worcester, to whom 
were added, on the side of reform, the bishops of Ely, Roches- 
ter, Hereford, Salisbury, and St. David's. The popish party 
were headed by Lee> archbishop of York; Gardiner, Stokesly, 
and Tunstal, bishops of Winchester, London, and Durham. 

The convocation was opened, on the 9th of June, by an ora- 
tion spoken by Latimer, whose eloquence was at this time fam-* 
ed throughout the kingdom. Many warm debates took place 
in this assembly; the result of which was, that four sacraments 
out of the seven were concluded to be insignificant. Latimer 
had no talents for state affairs; and he was satisfied he had 
none; he therefore returned to his charge at Worcester, highly 
pleased with the prospect of the times relative to the refor- 
mation. 

Perhaps no man ever made so little use of a good judgment 
as Henry VIII. His reign consisted in one unceasing rotation 
of violent passions, which rendered him such a mere machine 
in the hands of his ministers, that whoever amongst them could 
most artfully address the passion of the day, was certain to carry 
his point. Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, had just returned 
from Germany, where he had successfully negotiated some 
orders that the king had greatly at heart. That subtle minister 



166 MEMOIR OF 

in 1539, when the parliament was called to confirm the seizure 
of the monasteries, prevailed on his majesty to do something 
towards the restoration of the popish religion. In consequence 
of this, Latimer was summoned to parliament, and accused, 
before the king, of preaching a seditious sermon. This sermon 
had been preached before the king; and, to speak truth, Lati- 
mer had lashed the vices of the court with conscientious and 
fearless severity. The king had called together several bishops 
to consult them on some points of religion; and having all given 
their opinions, and about to break up, one of them, thought to 
have been Gardiner, kneeled down before the king, and accus- 
ed Latimer. The king, with a stern countenance, called him 
to vindicate himself; when Latimer, so far from denying, or even 
palliating what he had advanced, boldly justified himself; and,turn- 
ing to the king, with all that noble confidence that a good cause 
inspires, said, «' I never considered myself worthy, nor did I 
ever request the honour of preaching before your grace; but 
being called to the performance of that duty, I endeavoured to 
perform it. If, however, my manner or matter be in any way 
displeasing, I cheerfully give place to my betters; for I grant 
there are many more worthy of that honour than I; and if it 
be your grace's pleasure to appoint them for preachers, I shall 
be content to bear their books after them. But if your grace 
allow me for a preacher, I beseech you give me leave to dis- 
charge my conscience, and accommodate my doctrine to my 
audience : I had been a very dolt indeed to have preached at 
the borders of your realm as I have done before your grace." 
The greatness of the answer baffled the malice of his accuser; 
the severity of the king's countenance was relaxed into a gra- 
cious smile, and the bishop was dismissed with that obliging 
freedom, which was only the privilege of those he esteemed. 

Latimer was a true bishop, for he not only laboured for the 
salvation of his flock, watching over their faith and morals, but 
also over their temporal welfare and happiness; particularly he 
watched over the rights of the poor, that they might not be 
wronged by their rich and overbearing neighbours. An in- 
stance of this generous guardianship of the poor we have from 
Mr Fox, who says : It seems there lived a certain gentleman 
in that part of Warwickshire that is included in the diocese of 
Worchester, who had considerably wronged a poor neighbour, 
notwithstanding that he had kept within the letter of the law. 
This gentleman had a large estate in the county. His brother 
was also in the commission of the peace; and they two together 
had long overawed the country for many miles round. , The 
poor man, quite at a loss what to do, applied to his own dio- 
cesan. Latimer heard his story? pitied his case, and promised 



HUGH LATIMER. I67 

to endeavour to see him redressed. Accordingly be wrote a 
long letter to the parties, wherein he reproved them sharply for 
the injury they had done, requiring them to do the poor man 
justice, and that speedily. They replied to the bishop, and 
vindicated their procedure a3 legal and right, and declared 
themselves ready to stand by what they had done. That with 
regard to the complain er, the law was open; and as for his 
lordship, they could not but think he had interfered very im- 
pertinently in a matter in which he had not the least concern. 
Latimer, finding they were determined to substitute might in 
the place of right, wrote them again, stating, in few words, 
that if they did not forthwith do justice to the injured man, he 
himself would lay the whole affair before the king. This 
brought them to reason, and the affair was settled to the satis- 
faction of the complainer. 

So soon as parliament had passed the famous act of the six 
articles, to which Latimer could not give his vote; and con- 
ceiving it wrong to hold an office in a church where such terms 
of communion were required, he resigned his bishoprick, and 
retired into the country. Here he remained during the heat of 
the persecution that followed upon this act, and thought of 
nothing, for the remainder of his days, but a sequestrate life; 
but an unhappy accident carried him again into the tempestu- 
ous ocean. He had received a bruise, by the falling of a tree, 
that seemed so dangerous, that he was obliged to look out for 
better assistance than the surgeons of that place in the country 
could afford. With this view he repaired to London, where 
he had the sorrow to see the fall of his generous patron, the 
lord Cromwell; nor was it long before he learned the extent of 
the loss he had thereby sustained : For Gardiner's emissaries 
soon discovered his retreat; and something that somebody had 
somewhere heard him say against the six articles being alleged 
against him, he was committed to the tower. Here, without 
any judicial examination, he suffered imprisonment during the 
six last years of Henry's reign. 

He was confined along with the bishop of Chichester, but 
not so strictly that his friends might not see and converse with 
him; for neither Henry nor Gardiner had any design on his 
life. But the king had already received all the advantages of 
his faithful services that he expected; and a different adviser 
had put him on a train of operations, in forwarding which, he 
was sensible Latimer would not assist him. He was therefore 
no longer necessary to his happiness, and ungratefully forgot- 
ten. But Latimer is not the only instance of this prince's royal 
ingratitude to those who had afforded him the most essential 
services; witness the capitation of Sir Thomas More; his cruel 



168 MEMOIR OF 

usage of Wolsey; and his barbarous, illegal, and unjust severity 
exercised against lord Cromwell. 

Considering the capricious disposition of Henry, Latimer 
suffered, upon the whole, a mild sort of imprisonment; and, on 
the accession of Edward VI., all who were prisoners for the 
same cause were set at liberty. Latimer's old friends being 
now in power, he was received by them with every mark of af- 
fectionate regard; and had it in his power to dispossess his suc- 
cessor from his diocese; but he had very different sentiments, 
and neither would apply himself, nor suffer his friends to apply 
for his restoration. This, however, was soon after done by the 
parliament; but Latimer pled his great age as a reason why he 
should be suffered to end his days in private. 

Having thus rid himself of all importunities on this head, he 
accepted an invitation from Cranmer, and took up his residence 
at Lambeth, where he was chiefly employed in hearing the com- 
plaints, and redressing the wrongs of poor people; and his cha- 
racter, for this kind of service, was so generally known, that 
he had as crowded a levee as any minister of state. 

Latimer's sermons, some of which are still extant, are indeed 
far from correct or regular pieces of composition; yet his sim- 
plicity and familiarity, his humour and jibing drollery, were 
well adapted to the taste of these times. His oratory, accord- 
ing to the mode of eloquence then in vogue, was exceedingly popu- 
lar. His action, and manner of preaching, were likewise both 
agreeable and very affecting. His abilities, as an orator, how- 
ever, constituted only the inferior part of his character as a 
preacher. His commanding manner, his noble zeal for the 
truth, and the pressing sincerity with which he urged it home 
to the consciences of his auditory, rendered his discourses more 
exceedingly interesting. 

Latimer has been slandered by the opposite party for vindi- 
cating, in a sermon preached before the king, the justice of the 
sentence and execution of the lord high admiral. The charges are, 
that he publicly defended his death; that he aspersed his cha- 
racter; and did so that he might pay a servile compliment to 
the protector. The first part of the charge was true, he did 
defend his death; but the admiral's character was so very bad, 
that there was no room left for aspersion. His treasonable 
practices were notorious; and though he was proceeded against 
by a bill in parliament, according to the custom of those times, 
which may be now accounted inequitable, still he had forfeited 
his life, to all intents and purposes, according to the laws of his 
country. His death, nevertheless, occasioned much clamour; 
which was chiefly raised and encouraged by the lords of the 
opposition, to cast a popular odium on the protector, for whom 



HUGH LATIMER. 169 

Latimer had a high respect, and was mortified to see an invi- 
dious opposition thwarting the schemes of such a public spirited 
individual. On purpose therefore to lessen or remove this un- 
merited reproach, he exhibited the admiral's character in its 
true light, from circumstances with which the public were un- 
acquainted. 

On the death of the duke of Somerset, and the consequent 
revolution that took place at court, Latimer retired to the 
country, and, authorized by the king's general licence, he 
preached wherever he thought his labours were most necessary; 
and continued to prosecute the same apostolic manner of itine- 
rant preaching during the remainder of Edward's reign, and 
also for some short time after Mary had mounted the throne. 
But no sooner had Mary's ministers secured their places, and 
completed their political arrangements, than the introduction 
of popery was finally resolved on, and the preliminary steps to- 
ward effecting their purpose were, First, The prohibition of all 
preaching through the kingdom. Secondly, The licensing 
of those clergymen only who were known to lean towards the 
church of Rome. Accordingly, an inquisitorial search was 
made for the more forward and popular preachers amongst the 
protestants, and many of them were committed to prison. 
Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, was made prime minister; and 
having prescribed Mr Latimer from the first, sent a, messenger 
to cite him before the council. Latimer, who had previous no- 
tice of his design, made no use of the friendly information. The 
messenger, on his arrival, finding him equipped for his journey, 
expressed his surprise; but Latimer told him he would attend 
him with as little trepidation as ever he had mounted the pul- 
pit, and answer for his faith with as much pleasure, not doubt- 
ing but God, who had enabled him to stand before two princes, 
would also enable him to stand before a third, either to her un- 
speakable joy or everlasting anguish. The messenger informed 
him that he had no orders to seize his person, and putting a 
letter into his hand, departed. Hence some have imagined, 
not without considerable probability? that the real design of this 
citation was to drive him out of the kingdom, and in this way 
get rid of a dangerous antagonist, who, by his unshaken firm- 
ness, might out-brave their power and cruelty, and thereby 
confirm the faithful in their protestant opinions. However this 
may be, Latimer found, on opening the letter, that it contained 
a summons from the council; and resolving to obey ; he set out 
immediately. Passing through Smithfield, where the heretics 
were usually burnt, he said, pleasantly, Smithfield has long 
groaned for my old carcase. Next morning he waited on the 
council, who, after loading him with many bitter reproaches, 

7 Y 



170 MEMOIR OF 

and otherwise evil entreating him, sent him to the tower. Here 
Latimer had a larger field wherein to exercise his patience and 
resignation than any heretofore; and few men seemed to pos- 
sess a larger allowance of these distinguishing virtues. The 
uncommon cheerfulness of his disposition never forsook him 
even in the most trying occasions; one instance of which is still 
on record. A servant leaving his apartment in the tower, 
Latimer called him back, and requested that he would tell his 
master, that unless he took better care of him, he would most 
assuredly escape him. On hearing which, the lieutenant, with 
a countenance rather discomposed, came to Latimer, requesting 
an explanation. I suppose, sir, replied Mr Latimer, you expect 
I shall be burnt; but I can assure you, that unless you allow 
me a little fire in this severe frost, I shall starve to death with 
cold. 

Cranmer and Ridley were also prisoners in the same cause 
with Latimer; and when the council came to the ensnaring re- 
solution of appointing a public disputation between the most 
eminent of the popish and protestant divines, these three were 
appointed to manage the dispute on the part of the protestants. 
Accordingly, in the spring of 1554, they were removed from 
the tower, where they had been imprisoned during the winter, 
forwarded to Oxford, and there put under close confinement in 
the common prison, where they had a fair specimen of the im- 
partiality with which the public disputation was likely to be 
conducted, in their being denied even the use of paper, pen, 
and ink, books, and whatever else might aid their preparation 
for the important controversy, in which they were obliged to 
act so conspicuous a part. Under these distressing circumstan- 
ces, while sitting in their prison-house, and ruminating on the 
mock solemnity of the preparations then making for their trial, 
of which it is probable they were newly informed, a conversa- 
tion took place between Ridley and his suffering associate. The 
time, said Ridley, is now come when we must either sin or suf- 
fer, deny the truths we believe, and have so long and so warmly 
recommended to the faith of others, or give our bodies to the 
flames in defence of our faith and hope. You are an old sol- 
dier of Christ's, Mr Latimer, and have frequently withstood 
the fear of death, whereas I am raw in the service, and desti- 
tute of experience. With this introduction, he proceeded to re- 
quest Mr Latimer to hear him propose such arguments, as, in 
his opinion, his adversaries were most likely to urge against 
him, and that he would assist him in furnishing himself with 
appropriate answers. 

To this Mr Latimer, with his usual good humour, replied : 
That he fancied the good bishop was treating him as he re- 



HUGH LATIMER. 171 

membered Mr Bilney was wont to do, who, when he wanted 
to teach him, always did so under the colour of being taught 
himself; but, in the present case, said he, I am determined to 
give them very little trouble. I shall just offer them a plain 
account of my faith, and shall say very little more on the sub- 
ject, well knowing it would answer no good purpose. They 
talk of a free disputation, which they have already belied by 
the treatment we have received at their hands; they also talk 
about an impartial decision regarding the merit of the argu- 
ments brought forward; but, be assured, my lord, their most 
energetic argument will be that used by their fathers, when 
driven from every equitable position : We have a law, and by 
our law you ought to die. As for myself, had I the wisdom of 
Solomon, and all the learning of St. Paul, I should consider 
them ill applied in making an elaborate defence; yet our case 
is neither singular nor desperate : No, my lord, it admits of this 
peculiar consolation, that our enemies can do no more than God 
permits; and God is faithful, who will not euffa theni to load us 
with sufferings above what we are able to bear. Bring them 
to a point, and there hold them fast, let them say or do what 
they please; many words will be of no avail. It is requisite, 
nevertheless, that you give them some reasonable account of 
your faith, if they will quietly hear you. For other things, in 
a wicked judgment-hall, a man may keep silence, after the ex- 
ample of Christ himself. But, above all things, guard your- 
self against the fear of death; this is the great argument you 
must prepare yourself to oppose. Poor Shaxion ! we have rea- 
son to fear this argument had the greatest weight in his recan- 
tation. The fear of death makes men slaves. He who has 
conquered this fear, can triumph over the malice of earth and 
hell. Let us be stedfast and immoveable, in the full confidence 
that nothing can add to our honour and felicity, if we, like the 
Philippians, not only believe in Christ, but dare to suffer for 
his sake. 

Corresponding with these sentiments, Latimer conducted 
himself through the whole of this dispute, wherein much arti- 
fice was used to draw him into a formal mode of reasoning, 
without effect. He answered their questions, however, as far 
as civility required; and, in these answers, managed his argu- 
ment much better than either Ridley or Cranmer, who, when 
they were pressed with passages from the fathers in support of 
transubstantiation, in place of rejecting their insufficient autho- 
rity, weakly defended a good cause by scholastic distinctions 
and evasions. Whereas, when the same proofs were crowded 
upon Latimer, he boldly rejected their authority, for the obvi- 
ous reason, that, like other men, the fathers were liable to err; 



172 MEMOIR OF 

that he never depended upon them, unless when they depended 
upon scripture. Then, said his antagonist, you are not of St. 
Austin or Chrysostom's faith. I have told you already, said 
Latimer, I ani not, unless they bring scripture for what they 
say. Mr Addison admires his behaviour on this occasion. 
" This remarkable old man (says he), conscious that age had im- 
paired his abilities, and that it was impossible for him to recol- 
lect the reasons that had directed him in the choice of his reli- 
gion, left his companions, who were in the full possession of their 
learning and faculties, to baffle and confound their antagonists 
by the force of reason. As for himself, he did little more than 
repeat to his adversaries the articles in which he firmly believed, 
and in the profession of which he had determined to die." 

The dispute being ended, sentence was passed upon him in 
the beginning of October; and upon the sixteenth of the same 
month, he and Ridley were burnt on a spot of ground on the 
north side of Baliol college. When they came to the stake, 
.Latimer lifted up l»ie oyec 7 with ft meek and serene counten- 
ance, saying, Fidelis est Deus, God is faithful. When they 
were brought to- the fire, after a most abusive sermon, an officer 
informed them that they might now prepare themselves for the 
stake. Mr Latimer having thrown off his prison attire, appear- 
ed in a shrowd prepared for the purpose. Some gunpowder 
had been attached to their bodies to hasten their death; and 
Latimer, after recommending his soul to God, turning to the 
bishop of London, his companion in tribulation, he said, brother, 
be of good comfort, to-day we light such a torch in England as 
I trust shall never be extinguished. When the fire was kindled, 
he cried, O Father of heaven receive my soul; and seeming to 
embrace the flame, he stroked his face with his hands, after 
having, as it were, bathed them for a short space in the fire, 
when the powder exploded, and he expired. 

Such was the death of Hugh Latimer, bishop of Worcester, 
one of the leaders of that noble army of martyrs who introduc- 
ed the reformation into England. 

Cheerfulness and fortitude were so happily blended in his 
constitution, his principles were so just, and his resolutions so 
determined, that neither prosperity nor adversity had the power 
to disturb the serenity of his soul. No trials could unman him, 
neither could the splendour of the world allure him. Amid 
the most alarming circumstances of life he stood firm and col- 
lected, at no time destitute of resources, but could, on every 
emergency, retire within himself, and there luxuriate on those 
consolations that spring from the faith of the gospel, and the 
well-grounded hope of eternal glory. Conversant in courts, 
and intimate with princes, he still preserved his original plain- 



HUGH LATIMER. 173 

ness and moderation. Of his indefatigable labours, and the 
conscientious manner in which he discharged the duties of the 
pastoral office, we have many examples. No man could per- 
suade more forcibly, or exert, on proper occasions, a more com- 
manding severity. The wicked he rebuked without respect of 
persons; and, with the dignity that became his high office, 
overawed them more than did the terrors of the penal law. 

He was not considered a man of extensive learning, having 
only cultivated useful knowledge, which, he thought, lay in a 
narrow circle; neither could he ever be persuaded to take any 
part in secular affairs, under an apprehension that a clergyman 
ought to employ himself entirely in matters connected with his 
profession. Thus he lived rather a good, than what the world 
calls a great man. He had never cultivated those talents which 
give superiority in transacting business; but for honest sincerity 
and true simplicity of manners, for apostolic zeal in the cause 
of religion, and for every virtue that ought to adorn the life of 
a christian, he was eminent and ©xomplax-y, hcyund most men 
of his own or any other time or place; and of him it may, with 
much propriety, be said, that with the testimony of a good con- 
science, in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wis- 
dom, but by the grace of God, had he his conversation in the 
world. 



NICHOLAS RIDLEY, 

Bishop of London. 

Of all our English martyrs, bishop Ridley has been 
esteemed by far the most learned. He was born at Willymond- 
swyke in Northumberland, of an ancient and very worthy 
family. He took his grammatical education at Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne, from which, about the year 1518, he was removed to 
Pembroke-hall in Cambridge, at the expence of his uncle Dr. 
Robert Ridley. Here he soon acquired a great proficiency in 
the Latin and Greek tongues, and the other learning of that 
period. His reputation for learning procured him the friend- 
ship and esteem of both universities; and in the beginning of 
1524, the masters and fellows of university college in Oxford 
invited him to accept of an exhibition, founded by Walter 
Skyrley, bishop of Durham; which he declined. The next 
year he took his degrees of master, and was appointed by the 
college as their general agent. 

His uncle, observing the rapid progress he was making, was 
now willing to afford him the advantage of travel, and the im- 



174 MEMOIR OF 

provement of foreign universities; and his studies being now 
directed to divinity, he sent him for some time among the doc- 
tors of the Sarbonne at Paris, which was then the most cele- 
brated university in Europe. After this he also remained a 
short time among the professors of Lovain. Having remained 
abroad during the years 1527, 1528, 1529, he returned to Cam- 
bridge, where he pursued his theological studies, and applied 
himself to the reading of the scriptures as his surest guide. 
There is a walk in the orchard at Pembroke-hall which has 
still the name of Ridley's walk. Here he learned to repeat, 
without book, almost all the epistles in Greek. His behaviour 
was truly obliging and pious, without hypocrisy or monk- 
ish austerity; he would sometimes shoot with the bow, play at 
tennis, and mix familiarly in the harmless amusements of the 
place. He was senior proctor of the university when the im- 
portant question of the pope's supremacy came before them, to 
be examined upon the authority of scripture; and their resolu- 
tion — That tlie bishop of Rome had no more authority or 
jurisdiction derived from God, in this kingdom of England, 
than any other foreign bishop — was signed, in name of the uni- 
versity, by Simon Heynes, vice-chancellor; Nicholas Ridley, 
Richard Wilks, proctors. He lost his uncle in 1536; but the 
education he had received, and the proficiency he had acquired, 
recommended him to another and greater patron, Cranmer, 
archbishop of Canterbury, who appointed him his domestic 
chaplain, and collated him to the vicarage of Heme in east 
Kent. Here he gave his testimony from the pulpit against the 
act of the six articles, and instructed his charge in the pure 
doctrines of the gospel, so far as he yet understood them. 
Transubstantiation was, however, still an article of his belief. 
During his retirement at this place, he read a little treatise, 
written seven hundred years before, by Bertram, a monk of 
Cerbey. The perusal of this treatise first opened Ridley's eyes, 
and determined him to search the scriptures, and examine the 
doctrine of the primitive fathers respecting this article. The re- 
sult of his researches he communicated to Cranmer, and both 
were convinced that the doctrine was novel and heretical. 

After remaining two years at Heme, he was chosen master 
of Pembroke-hall, and appointed chaplain to the king. And 
the cathedral church of Canterbury being made collegiate, he 
obtained the fifth prebendal stall. The courage and zeal he 
manifested in promoting the reformation was such, that he was 
considered, next to Cranmer, its greatest supporter amongst the 
clergy. In the succeeding reign of Edward VI., when a royal 
visitation was resolved on throughout the kingdom, he attended 
the visitors of the northern circuit, as their preacher, to instruct 



NICHOLAS RIDLEY. 1J5 

that part of the kingdom in the doctrines of the reformation. 
"His character, at this time (says Dr. Ridley, his biographer), 
was that of a celebrated disputant, a favourite preacher, undoubt- 
ingin the article of transubstantiation; a zealous scripturalist, and 
particularly well acquainted with the fathers. He was made 
chaplain to Edward VI., and consecrated bishop of Rochester 
during the year 1547. He was translated to London on the 
deprivation of Bonner in 1550., and expired in the flames at 
Oxford in 1555." 

The church of Rome had taught the people to believe, that 
the mere action of receiving the sacrament was of itself suffi- 
cient for the justification of the receiver, unless he himself pre- 
vented it; and this seems to have occasioned the homilies rela- 
tive to the ground of justification before God. Concerning the 
real presence of Christ in the sacrament, public disputations 
were held, in both universities, between the reformers and the 
papists; and Ridley, with some other delegates, were sent to 
Cambridge, where a disputation was held for three successive 
days. The propositions to be established by the protestants, 
and opposed by their antagonists, were: That transubstantiation 
cannot be found in the plain and manifest words of scripture : 
That neither can it be collected therefrom by rational inference 
and deduction; and that, as the scriptures are silent on this 
point, so neither is it confirmed by the consent of the primitive 
fathers; and that therefore there is no other sacrifice and obla- 
tion in the Lord's supper, than a remembrance of Christ's 
death and thanksgiving. The debate was summed up with 
much candour and learning by bishop Ridley; but decidedly 
against the corporeal presence. Ridley is allowed to have been 
master of that subject more than any man of the age; for hav- 
ing studied Bertram's book of the ninth century, as formerly 
noticed, he came to the conclusion : That transubstantiation 
was not an original doctrine of the church, but had been intro- 
duced with other errors in the latter ages. This discovery he 
communicated to his friend Cranmer, and both set themselves 
to examine the matter with more than common care. In order 
to this, they made large collections from the ancient fathers, 
to prove the novelty as well as the absurdity of the opinion. 
They discovered, that all the lofty and swelling expressions to 
be found in Chrysostom, and other ancient writers on this sub- 
ject, were merely strains and figures of eloquence to raise the 
devotion of the people, though following ages had built their 
opinion on these expressions, and the more readily believed 
them, as they appeared above all belief. But this opinion of 
the real presence having been so generally received in England 
for three hundred years, these eminent reformers went to work 



176 MEMOIR OF 

with great caution, and by gradually proceeding in their public 
discussions, afforded time for the people to consider the subject 
more leisurely, and of course more effectually. 

Ridley, with the archbishop, the bishops of Ely, Worcester, 
Westminster, Chichester, and Lincoln; Sir William Petrie, Sir 
Thomas Smith, Dr. Cox, Dr. May, and others, were put into 
commission to search after all anabaptists, heretics, and con- 
temners of the common prayer. This measure was adopted in 
consequence of information, that, together with the many pro- 
testant strangers that were come into England from Germany, 
several anabaptists had arrived, who were disseminating their 
errors, and making proselytes. These men, as bishop Burnet 
informs us, building upon the principle held forth by Luther, 
that scripture is the only rule of faith, rejected all deductions 
therefrom, however obvious and unavoidable the inference 
might be; and the baptism of infants not being mentioned in 
scripture, they therefore rejected. The anabaptists were not all 
of the same opinion, but differed both in doctrine and practice; 
some were moderate, others extravagant and fierce. The 
opinions of the latter may be partly gathered from some trades- 
men in London, who abjured before the commission; such 
as, That a regenerate man could not sin ; for if the outward man 
commit sin, the inward man sinneth not : That there was no 
trinity of persons in the godhead: That Christ was only a 
prophet, and not God : That all we had from Christ was his 
wise teaching and holy example; and that the baptism of infants 
was of no utility, as it was performed before the subject thereof 
could possibly believe in the doctrines of the religion into which 
he was thereby intended to be initiated. Among the people 
who held these, and similar tenets, was Joan Bocher, commonly 
called Joan of Kent. This woman appeared before the com- 
mission, and behaved with unparalleled obstinacy, vindicating 
her opinion with a mixture of ill-nature and contempt, treating 
all the means used to reclaim her with scorn. She was accord- 
ingly pronounced an heretic, and delivered over to the secular 
arm. Ridley was still at Rochester; for the archbishop, John 
Smith, William Cook dean of the arches, Hugh Latimer, and 
Richard Lyel, were only named in the sentence. The king 
could scarcely be prevailed upon to sign the warrant for her 
burning; but Cranmer, among many things, represented that it 
would bespeak a strange indifference toward religion, to over- 
look the honour of God, by neglecting to put the laws in exe- 
cution, framed for that particular purpose; while those laws 
that related to the honour of the king were executed with so 
much zeal and severity. However, the archbishop was not 
so intent on her punishment, as he had been for passing the 



NICHOLAS RIDLEY. 177 

sentence. He and Ridley laboured a whole year to persuade 
her of her errors, but to no purpose; at last she was burnt in 
May 1550. A similar sentence was executed against George 
Van Parre, a Dutchman, for denying the divinity of our Savi- 
our. It is mentioned here for the sake of connection, though 
it did not happen till April 1551, on the 6th of which month, 
Ridley, being one of the commissioners, signed his sentence of 
excommunication. Mild and gentle as he certainly was to 
every modest inquirer, however much in error, he would not 
relax or break through the existing laws to indulge an obstinate 
blasphemer. 

The protestants were charged by the papists with a disregard 
to all religion, and that they could endure heresies, in every 
sectary, with the greatest indifference; while the most canoni- 
cal truths held forth by the Romish church they treated with 
derision and ridicule. During the preceding winter, it was in 
agitation to unite the reformers, both at home and abroad, into 
one great body. Bullenger and Calvin, with others, in a letter 
to king Edward, proposed making' him their defender, tender- 
ing, at the same time, their services and assistance in all cases 
of danger. The Roman fathers, on learning what was going 
forward, became alarmed, and sent two emissaries from Am- 
sterdam into England, with orders to pass themselves for ana- 
baptists, and inculcate the belief of a fifth monarchy. A letter, 
dated 1549, was also despatched by the same fathers, from 
Delf in Holland, to two English bishops; Gardiner of Win- 
chester was one of them, and probably Bonner might be the 
other. In this letter they apprize the bishops of the approach of 
these incendiaries, and request them to countenance and protect 
them in case they should meet with any opposition; adding, 
that it was left for them, and some others, known to be well-af- 
fected to the mother-church, to assist in the present crisis. 
This letter was found, by Sir H. Sidney, in queen Elizabeth's 
closet, among some letters of queen Mary's; and the knowledge, 
or even the suspicion of these intrigues, might perhaps occa- 
sion the severity thus exercised against these anabaptists. It 
was owing, however, as much to the ignorance as to the vice 
of the age, that the reformers, who had suffered so much from 
the persecuting spirit of Rome, had retained, along with much 
of her superstition, part also of her persecuting policy; opposed, 
as it evidently was, not only to the mild economy of grace, but 
also to the justice necessary for promoting the peace and hap- 
piness of society. 

Some time during the summer Ridley was called to preside 
at a disputation, appointed to be publicly held at Cambridge? 
relative to the sacrament of the Lord's supper. Two positions 

7 z 



178 MEMOIR OF 

were agreed upon as the subjects of disputation : 1st, That 
transubstantiation cannot be proved by the plain and manifest 
words of scripture, nor fairly deduced therefrom, nor yet by 
the consent of the ancient fathers for the last thousand years. 
2d, That in the sacrament of the supper there is noae other 
oblation or sacrifice than one only remembrance of Christ's 
death, and of thanksgiving. 

The first disputation took place on Thursday the 21st of 
June — Dr. Madew of Clare-hall, respondent, maintaining the 
above positions : Dr. Glyn, Messrs Langdale, Sedgwick, and 
Young, opponents. The second disputation was held on Mon- 
day the 24th — Dr. Glyn, respondent, maintaining the contrary 
positions : Messrs Perne, Grindal, Gest, and Pilkington, oppo- 
nents. The third was on Thursday the 27th — Mr Perne, 
respondent, maintaining the positions : Messrs Parker, Pollard, 
Vavasor, and Young, opponents. Between the disputations at 
Oxford and those at Cambridge there was one difference ob- 
served: Peter Martyr admitted a change in the elements; and 
Langdale, one of the opponents, asked wherein this change was 
effected, supposing it to be admitted, Whether was it wrought 
in the substances or in the accidents, or in both, or in neither ? 
Ridley interposed, by saying, There is no change either of the 
substances or of the accidents, notwithstanding that the sancti- 
fying and setting apart of the bread and wine adds t@ the ori- 
ginal accidents others which they did not formerly possess. 

After the disputation was closed, the bishop determined 
against transubstantiation on these five principal grounds : 
1st, The authority, majesty, and verity of holy scripture : " I 
will not henceforth drink of the fruit of the vine." St. Paul and 
St. Luke calls it Ibread after consecration. They speak of 
breaking, which corresponds with bread, but literally cannot 
with the body of Christ. It was to be done in remembrance of 
him. " This is the bread that came down from heaven;" but the 
body of Christ came not from heaven. "It is the spirit that 
quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing." 2d, The most certain 
testimony of the ancient catholic fathers, of whom he produced 
Dionysius, Ignatius, Ireneeus, Tertullian, Chrysostom, Cyprian, 
Theodoret, Gelasius, Austin, Cyril, Isychius, and Bertram, 
who call it bread after consecration, sacramental bread, a figure 
of the body of Christ; and expressly declare, that it still con- 
tinues to be bread, and that both elements continue to be as 
much as ever very bread and wine. 3d, The nature of the 
sacrament, in which the symbols represent the like spiritual ef- 
fects; which, in the sacrament of the supper, are unity, nutri- 
tion, and conversion : The unity of the grains make one bread, 
as the unity of the members make the one mystical body of 



NICHOLAS RIDLEY. 179 

Christ. The substance of these grains nourish our bodies, and 
with great propriety represent the nourishment of our souls. 
Those therefore that take away the similitude between the 
bread and the body of Christ, destroy the very nature of a sa- 
crament, as there can remain nothing to represent our being 
turned into Christ's mystical body, if the bread be not convert- 
ed into the substance of our bodies. 4th, That tran substantia- 
tion destroys one of the natures of Christ, because they who 
bold to the corporeal presence in the sacrament, destroy the re- 
ality of his human nature. Eutychas allowed the divine nature, 
but denied the human nature of Christ; and they who defend 
the ubiquity of Christ's human nature, ascribe to it the attri- 
butes that alone belong to the divine. The fifth ground is. 
That Christ is ascended into heaven; and although, by his essen- 
tial deity and invisible grace, he is with his people always, and 
his church, to the end of the world; yet, with respect to his 
manhood, he says, You shall not have me always with you. 

Against the oblation of Christ in the sacrament, he produced 
from scripture an overwhelming mass of evidence, together 
with that of a number of the fathers of the catholic church, all 
which, said he, are sufficient at this time for a scholastic deter- 
mination of these matters. 

Ridley assisted Cranmer in the first edition of the common 
prayer. He was ranked with Cranmer, Hooper, Ferrar, and 
others, denominated the zealous protestants, in opposition to 
Gardiner, Bonner, and Tunstal, who were called zealous pa- 
pists. Ridley had his injunctions for the visitation of his diocese 
printed, which show the progress then made in the reformation 
in England. They enjoin, that none should be admitted to the 
communion but such as were ready to confess the articles of 
the creed at the request of the curate : That the homilies should 
be read orderly, without omitting any part of them : That the 
common prayer should be read in every church on Wednesday's 
and Friday's : That none should maintain purgatory, invocation 
of saints, the six articles, bead rolls, pilgrimages, relics, rubrics, 
primers, the justification of man by his own works, holy 
bread, psalms, ashes, candles, creeping to the cross, hallowing 
of fire or altars, or such like abuses. 

The king was under a visible decay, and Ridley preached 
before him toward the end of his sickness; and having in one of 
his sermons enlarged on the duty of charity, and its happy con- 
sequences, the king was so moved with what he had heard, that 
after sermon he sent for the bishop, and desiring him to sit 
down and be covered. His majesty ran over the heads of the 
discourse, and said, his lordship must give him some directions 
how to acquit himself of his duty. The bishop, astonished at 



180 MEMOIR OF 

•o much tender sensibility in so young a prince, burst into 
tears; but requested time to consider the channel in which the 
royal charity could be most advantageously directed, and that 
he might be permitted to consult with the lord mayor and 
aldermen on that subject. His majesty accordingly wrote them 
by the bishop, who returned with a scheme of three foundations : 
One for the sick and wounded; another for those that were un- 
willingly idle, or who were mad; and a third for orphans. His 
majesty therefore endowed St. Bartholomew's hospital for the first, 
bridewell for the second, and Greyfriar's church for the third. 

King Edward died in 1553, and was succeeded by his sister 
Mary, whose reign was one continued course of tyranny, bigo- 
try, and persecution, by which the land was polluted with 
blood. She was a rigid papist, and caused lady Jean Gray, 
who openly professed the protestant religion, to be beheaded, 
though only about seventeen years of age, and one of the most 
accomplished ladies in her time, notwithstanding that Edward 
had bequeathed her the crown by his last will. 

The duke of Northumberland and his son, the duke of Nor- 
folk and his brother, were also beheaded for attempting to put 
this excellent lady on the throne. The infamous Gardiner, 
and tko pvecrable Bonner, she released from prison, and ap- 
pointed them to pull down the reformation, which her brother 
had brought to a considerable state of improvement. She in- 
troduced the mass, persecuted the protestants to the death, and 
re-established the idolatrous worship of Rome, contrary to the 
will or inclination of three-fourths of the population of England. 
Gardiner was the despicable tool in the hand of this ignorant, 
superstitious, and peevish lady, to extirpate from the land the 
religion which she called heresy; and his orders to purge the 
church of married clergymen were so pressing, and their execu- 
tion so prompt, that of sixteen thousand inferior clergymen, 
twelve thousand were expelled their livings for the cx'ime of 
legitimate marriage. 

In order to force the protestants within the pale of the Ro- 
man church, Gardiner thought it best to begin with the most 
popular bishops and divines, judging, by his own shifting prin- 
ciples, that they would become an easy conquest, and that their 
example would influence the people; but he was much mistaken 
in his calculation, for bishops Latimer, Hooper, Ridley, and 
Ferrar, who were imprisoned, tried, and condemned, yet offered 
mercy, and even preferment in the church, providing they 
would recant and join the Romanists, boldly held the confession 
of their faith without wavering, and ultimately sealed their faith 
and obedience to the laws of Christ with their blood; which 
brought the Romish bishops to shame and popular disgrace. 



NICHOLAS RIDLEY. 181 

The convocation was adjourned and removed to Oxford, 
where a public disputation was appointed between the popish 
and protestant adherents, to be held before the whole univer- 
sity. To give a colour of justice to this conference, archbishop 
Cranmer, bishops Ridley and Latimer, were sent from the 
tower to the prison of Oxford to support the doctrines of the 
reformation, where they were ill-accommodated, denied the use 
of their books and papers, or the conversation of one another, 
and their mutual assistance in managing the controversy, as it 
was so arranged that each had his separate day. To each of 
these three prelates, a committee from the convocation and the 
university were opposed, against whom they had to defend their 
opinions single-handed. This disputation, says Fuller, was in- 
tended for a prologue to the tragical death of these distinguish- 
ed individuals, as it were to dry their bodies for the fire, that 
the flames might be the brighter. 

Mary's government and clergy have been charged with the 
most infernal cruelty, injustice, and public malversation. The 
queen was married, to Philip of Spain; and imagining herself 
pregnant, declared she could not possibly be delivered till all 
the heretics, with which the goals in and about London were 
filled, should be delivered to the flames. While thus tk© coun- 
cil and clergy of England were become the willing executioners 
of the vengeance meditated by this infernal fury, the nation 
seemed in one general blaze of persecution. Commissions for 
the mock trial of Ridley, Latimer, and Cranmer, were directed 
to three bishops and several others; but the imprisoned prelates, 
at their different appearances, refused to acknowledge the papal 
authority. Cranmer was brought forward the first; the next 
was Ridley, who began with a solemn declaration, that although 
his present opinions were different from what they had once 
been, yet he had not changed them from any worldly considera- 
tion, but purely from the conviction of his mind, that he had 
discovered the truth; and seeing he was now called upon to 
maintain the cause of God, and the verity of his word, he pro- 
tested that he should be permitted to add to, or alter, any argu- 
ment as he should find it necessary; and hoped, as he had to 
contend against a whole committee, that he would not be in- 
terrupted or assailed by more than one at a time. All this was 
promised, but not complied with; for he was not only assailed 
by the whole committee, one after another, but sometimes by 
four or five of them at once. Still he maintained his ground, 
till his adversaries, having shot off their last arrows, the prolo- 
cutor put an end to the dispute, by saying, You see the obstinate, 
vain-glorious, crafty, and inconstant mind of this man; but you 
also see the force of truth cannot be shaken, therefore cry out 
with me, Truth has the victory ! 



182 MEMOIR OF 

The three bishops were adjudged to be obstinate heretics, 
and declared no longer members of the church; to which they 
all objected. Ridley told the commissioners, that though he 
was not of their company, yet he doubted not but his name was 
written in a better place, whether their sentence would afford 
him a more early admission than the course of nature seemed 
to indicate. The prisoners were conducted to their separate 
prisons, where Ridley wrote a letter to the prolocutor, com- 
plaining of the noisy and irregular manner in which the dispute 
was carried on, whereby he was prevented from making a full 
defence, or of urging his arguments at length, being overpower- 
ed with clamour, and the cowardly abuse of four or five oppo- 
nents at a time. He desired, however, to have a copy of what 
the notaries had set down; but the request was not granted. 

Ridley and Latimer refused to recant, or to renounce their 
reason on the unintelligible jargon of a popish eucharist, the 
common watchword in those days for murder; so they were 
delivered over to the secular arm. The bishops of Gloucester, 
Lincoln, and Bristol, were sent to Oxford to proceed against 
them. When their commission was read, and it appeared that 
they were to proceed in the name of the pope, Ridley put on 
V»is nap, and refused to pay any reverence to those who acted 
under that authority; Latimer also protestecl against the papal 
authority; and being both accused of the opinions they main- 
tained in the public schools a year and a half before, they were 
allowed till next morning to consider whether they would re- 
tract. Next morning both adhered to the answers they had 
already made, and accordingly were pronounced obstinate here- 
tics, degraded from their orders, and consigned over to the secu- 
lar power to be punished. 

Every possible method was tried upon Ridley to persuade 
him to receive the queen's mercy; which he rejected, and a war- 
rant was sent down for the execution of him and Latimer. 
Accordingly, on the 16th of October 1555, they suffered in the 
ditch opposite to Baliol college. When they came up to the 
stake, they embraced one another very affectionately; and Rid- 
ley, with an air of peculiar satisfaction, said to Latimer, cheer 
up your heart brother, God will either assuage the fury of the 
flames, or afford strength to endure it. He then returned to 
the stake, and falling on his knees, kissed it, and prayed fer- 
vently for a short space; after which, preparing to speak to the 
multitude, some persons ran up to him and stopped his mouth. 
After being stript, he stood on a stone by the stake, and offered 
up the following prayer : " O heavenly Father, I give thee 
hearty thanks that thou hast called me to confess the truths of 
thy holy word, and maintain the doctrines of grace and salva- 






NICHOLAS RIDLEY. 183 

tion even unto death. I beseech thee, Lord God, to have 
mercy on this realm of England, and deliver it from all its ene- 
mies." A Mr Smith had delivered a long and very abusive 
sermon, to which they were not permitted to make any answer, 
unless they would recant. Ridley replied to this proposal, 
that he never would deny his Lord, nor the truths of which he 
was fully persuaded : so let the will of God be done. He said 
he had received fines, when bishop of London, for leases which 
were now voided, and requested that the queen might give 
orders, either that the leases might be made good, or the fines 
restored to the tenants out of the effects. he had left behind him, 
which were more than sufficient for that purpose. After this 
they were ordered to fit themselves for the stake. As the smith 
was knocking in the staple that held the chain, he said, knock 
it hard, goodman, for the flesh will have its course. Some 
gunpowder was hanged to their bodies to hasten their death, 
and the fire put to the wood. The powder took fire with the first 
flame, which put Latimer instantly out of pain; but there was 
so much wood thrown where Ridley was, that the*flame could 
not break through, so that his legs were almost consumed be- 
fore it was observed, when a passage for the flame was opened, 
which soon put an end to his life, in the fifty-fifth year of 
his age. 

The station which both these martyrs had held in the church, 
their exemplary lives, their benevolent disposition, their age, 
and the patience, meekness, and fortitude of their behaviour in 
passing through this fiery ordeal, raised the commiseration of 
the spectators, and sent them home in silent indignation at the 
actors and abettors of such inhuman cruelty. Ridley's fine 
parts and acquirements in all the branches of literature, neces- 
saiy for a divine, gave him the first rank in the clerical profes- 
sion; and the purity of his life corresponded with his knowledge. 
He was of an easy and obliging temper; and though he had 
spirit to support his character, and do himself justice with the 
great and powerful, he was always ready to forgive injuries or 
offences. Hi*s zeal for religion was never manifested by pro- 
moting severities against those who held opinions different from 
his own, but in diligently explaining the matters that appeared 
to be misunderstood, and shewing their foundation in scripture 
and antiquity. The grace of his Master was not only shewn in 
the candour and charity of his sentiments, but also in kind and 
beneficent offices to those who differed from him in their opi- 
nions. He was a benefactor to the poor and the oppressed; he 
maintained Heath, the deprived bishop of Worchester, for a 
year and a half, in the same splendour as though Fulham-house 
had been his own; and Bonner's mother, who merited nothing 



184 Memoir of 

on her own account, dined always at his table so long as her 
son was held prisoner in the tower. The reformation was 
greatly promoted by his learning-, zeal, and active exertions 
while he lived, and perhaps more so by his death in its defence. 
In England, as everywhere else, the ancient observation has 
been verified, that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the 
church. And the magnanimity evinced by these good men, 
during this period of persecuting barbarity, led to consequences 
the very reverse of those anticipated by their adversaries. The 
cruelties exercised towards these innocent and unresisting vic- 
tims, set all the powers of commiserating sensibility in motion, 
which, like a stream of electricity, rushed from bosom to bosom, 
The terrors of power were lost in the triumph of the martyrs, 
and every attempt to put the sufferers to shame recoiled on their 
disappointed persecutors. So much was this the case, that Gardi- 
ner, the insolent and brow-beating bishop of Winchester, began 
to take shame to himself for wallowing in blood to so little pur- 
pose; and that he might screen himself from the general execra- 
tion, left that staunch blood-hound Bonner, bishop of London, 
to play off the most abhorrent parts of this infernal tragedy. 
But even Bonner himself turned cool ; and that he might not 
bear alone the infamy poured upon him, not only from every 
corner of England, but from most of the nations of Europe, he 
brought Philip and Mary on the theatre, that as they were the 
original instigators, so they might come in for their share of 
merited renown; and in all probability the early death of Mary 
saved her from the mortification of becoming a queen without 
subjects, as she exhibited no symptoms whatever of returning 
moderation. 

We shall conclude the life of this eminent divine, and inflex- 
ible martyr, with a quotation from Dr. Ridley, his friend and 
learned biographer. " Bishop Ridley (says he) was gentle to 
tender consciences; but wherever he found that the will was in 
fault from vanity, malice, or obstinacy, he set himself with great 
stedfastness to reduce them to reasonable obedience. With re- 
spect to himself, he was a man of humility, much given to 
prayer and contemplation. Ever careful of the best interests of 
his family, he was assiduous in their instruction; he provided 
every one of them who could read with a New Testament, and 
even hired them to learn select passages by heart. So soon as 
he arose and had dressed himself, he retired for about half-an- 
hour to his private devotion; after which, unless interrupted by 
other business, he continued at his studies till ten, when he 
came to family worship, and there read a lecture, beginning 
with the Acts of the Apostles, and so went regularly through 
Paul's epistles. In person, he was small of stature, but great 



NICHOLAS RIDLEY. 185 

in learning, and profoundly read in divinity. Among' several 
things that he wrote were these : A Treatise concerning Ima- 
ges not to be set up nor worshipped in churches. — A brief de- 
claration of the Lord's Supper. — A Treatise of the blessed Sa- 
crament. — A piteous Lamentation over the miserable state of 
the Church of England on the introduction of Popery. — A 
Comparison between the comfortable Doctrines of the Gospel 
and the Traditions of the Popish Religion. — He had a hand in 
compiling the Common Prayer-book, as also in several disputa- 
tions and conferences about matters of religion. 



THOMAS CRANMER, D. D. 
Archbishop of Canterbury. 

The celebrated subject of this memoir was the son of 
Thomas Cranmer, Esq. whose family came into England with 
William the conqueror. He was born at Arselacton in Notting- 
hamshire, on the 2d June 1489; was rather unfortunate in his 
schoolmaster and primary education; and his father dying while 
he was very young, his mother, when he had arrived at the age 
of fourteen, bad him placed at Cambridge, where he spent his 
time, for eight years, to very little purpose, entangled amongst 
the dark riddles of Dun Scotus, and other celebrated question- 
ests. He then commenced the reading of Faber, Erasmus, and 
other good Latin authors, for four or five years, till, urged by the 
controversies of the times, he applied himself to the study of 
the scriptures for three years together. Having thus acquired 
a considerable acquaintance with the holy scriptures, he turned 
his attention to general reading, which embraced good writers, 
both ancient and modern. He was bat a slow reader, but care- 
ful to mark whatever he read, seldom perusing a book without 
the pen in his hand. He married before he had taken orders, 
by which means he lost his fellowship in Jesus' college; but his 
wife dying in child-bed about a year thereafter, such was the 
favourable opinion entertained by his fellow-collegians for his 
talents and deportment, that they unanimously re-admitted him 
to his fellowship. On this occasion his gratitude was such, that 
he rejected a fellowship in cardinal Wolsey's new college, not- 
withstanding that the salary was much more considerable, and 
the path to preferment more open through the influence of the 
cardinal, choosing rather to remain with his old associates, who 
had given him so singular a mark of their friendship and affec- 
tion. In 1523 he commenced doctor of divinity. Being in 
his thirty-fourth vear, and in great esteem for theological 
7 2 a 



186 MEMOIR OF 

learning, he was chosen divinity lecturer in his own college, 
and appointed by the university for one of the examiners of 
such as took their degrees in divinity. These candidates he 
examined principally from the scriptures; and finding many of 
them grossly ignorant of divine revelation, he rejected them, as 
unqualified to teach others what themselves did not understand, 
advising them to a close and careful study of the sacred oracles 
before they applied for their degrees, that they might not dis- 
grace the profession of divinity, by their ignorance of that book 
wherein the knowledge of God and the ground of true theology 
were alone to be found. Some hated him for his strictness on 
this point, considering it as a novel invention, while the more 
ingenious afterwards thanked him, in a public manner, for hav- 
ing been the means of giving them the true method of improve- 
ment in the knowledge of religion. 

During his residence at Cambridge, the question of the king's 
divorce was agitated in the schools; but the plague breaking 
out in the university, Cranmer retired to Waltham Abbey, 
where accidently meeting with Gardiner and Fox, the one the 
king's secretary, and the other his almoner, Cranmer strongly 
recommended the method that had been suggested by Wolsey, 
namely, to refer the question of divorce to the decision of our 
own and foreign universities, which he considered the shortest 
and safest method, and that which would afford the best-grounded 
satisfaction to the conscience of the king. On hearing Cran- 
mer's remarks on this subject, the king said that Cranmer had 
got the sow by the right ear, and immediately sent for him to 
court, where observing his gravity, modesty, and learning, he 
resolved to cherish and promote him. Accordingly the king 
made him his chaplain, gave him a good benefice, and had him 
nominated for archdeacon of Taunton. By his majesty's orders 
he drew up a paper, wherein his own judgment on this delicate 
point was stated at large, with the reasons on which it was 
founded; which opinion he defended in the public school at 
Cambridge by such solid arguments, that many of the opposite 
party came over to his opinion, particularly he converted five 
of six doctors who had previously given in a contrary opinion 
to the king. 

In the year 1530, Cranmer was sent to Paris to dispute on 
this subject, also to Rome and other foreign parts. At Rome 
he gave in his book, containing his opinion on the merits of the 
case, to the pope, and offered to defend the same in a public 
disputation; but after several appointments for that purpose, 
none appeared publicly to oppose him, while, in private, he 
forced them to confess that the marriage was evidently contrary 
to the law of God. To get clear of his arguments with a good 



THOMAS CRANMER. 187 

grace, the pope constituted him penitentiary general of England, 
and so dismissed him. In Germany his reasoning was admit- 
ted as conclusive by many learned men, who, before they heard 
Cranmer, were of a different opinion, particularly he so effec- 
tually convinced the famous Osiander, that he declared the 
king's marriage unlawful in his treatise of incestuous marriage, 
and drew up a form, which was sent over to England, setting 
forth the manner in which the king's process ought to be 
managed. Before he left Germany, Cranmer was married to 
Osiander's niece, whom, when he returned, he left with her 
friends till 1534, when he sent for her privately. 

In August 1532 archbishop Warham departed this life; and 
the king conceiving Dr. Cranmer to be the most proper person 
to succeed him in the see of Canterbury, wrote to hasten him 
home, without mentioning the cause. But Cranmer, guessing 
at his intention, and desirous to decline the station, moved 
slowly, in hopes the place might be filled before his arrival. 
To decline preferment was a crime with which the clergy of 
that age were so seldom chargeable, that his majesty considered 
Cranmer a man of very different principles from the generality 
of his order. This tended to raise his merit still higher in his 
opinion; and finding at last that the king would not admit of 
the excuses his modesty induced him to make, he found 
himself under a kind of necessity to undertake the weighty 
charge. 

Few men could be less acceptable at Rome than Cranmer; 
yet the pope, unwilling to come to a rupture with Henry, sent 
no less than eleven bulls to complete the character of his 
favourite archbishop. The first, which was addressed to the 
king, promotes him to the see of Canterbury on the king's no- 
mination; by the second, addressed to himself, notice is given of 
his promotion; the third absolves him from all censures; the 
fourth was sent to the suffragans; the fifth to the dean and 
chapter; the sixth to the clergy of Canterbury; the seventh to 
all the laity; the eighth to all who held lands of the see, requir- 
ing them to acknowledge him as archbishop; by the ninth, his 
consecration is ordered by taking the oath in the pontifical; by 
the tenth, the pall was sent him; and by the eleventh, the arch- 
bishop of York, and bishop of London, were ordered to put it 
on. These bulls Cranmer received, according to custom, but 
immediately surrendered them to the king, because he would 
not acknowledge the pope's power to confer ecclesiastical dig- 
nities in England, which he considered the sole right of the 
king. He was consecrated March 30th, 1 533 ;. and seeing there 
were some things in the oath of fidelity to the pope which were 
seemingly inconsistent with his allegiance to the king, he made 



188 MEMOIR OF 

a public protestation, that he took the oath in no other sense 
than that in which it was reconcileable to the laws of God, the 
just prerogative of the king, and the statutes of this kingdom. 
The same protestation was made before he took another oath 
to the pope at his receiving the pall; and the protonotary was 
ordered to make a public instrument of both, and have it signed 
by the persons there present. 

The first service Cranmer did for the king, was the pronounc- 
ing of his sentence of divorce from Queen Catherine, on the 
23d May. Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, and the bishops of 
London, Bath, and Lincoln, being joined with him in the com- 
mission for that purpose. The queen, neither appearing in per- 
son or by proxy, after three citations, was declared contumax. 
The depositions relative to the consummation of the marriage 
with prince Arthur, together with the conclusions of the pro- 
vinces of York and Canterbury, and the opinions of the most 
noted canonists and divines in favour of the divorce, were then 
read; and the archbishop, with the unanimous consent of the 
rest of the commissioners, pronounced the marriage between 
the king and queen Catherine null, and of no force from the 
beginning, and declared them separated and divorced from each 
other, and at liberty to engage with whom they pleased. On 
the 28th of May he held another court at Lambeth, in which he 
confirmed the king's marriage with Anne Boleyn. 

Alarmed at these proceedings, the pope, by a public instru- 
ment, declared the divorce null and void, and threatened Cran- 
mer with excommunication, unless he would revoke all that he 
had done therein; upon which the archbishop appealed from the 
pope to the first general council lawfully called; and sending 
the appeal to Bonner, under his seal, desired him and Gardiner 
to acquaint the pope with it in any way they considered the most 
expedient. 

On the 7th. September the new queen was delivered of a 
daughter, who was baptized on the Wednesday following, and 
named Elizabeth, for whom the archbishop had the honour to 
stand god-father. 

When the supremacy came under debate, the archbishop 
answered all the arguments, urged in defence of the papal autho- 
rity, with such force and perspicuity, and rebutted the claims of 
Rome so satisfactorily from the word of God, and the universal 
consent of the primitive church, that the Roman jurisdiction 
was abolished by full consent of parliament and convocation. 
The king, whose supremacy was now almost as generally ad- 
mitted in England as the pope's had formerly been, began to 
look on the monasteries with a jealous eye. These establish- 
ments he considered, by their privileges of exemption, were na-» 



THOMAS CRANMER. 189 

turally engaged to the see of Rome, and would serve the pope 
as a body of reserve, to support his claim in all future quarrels 
on the right of supremacy. This was, no doubt, a reason for 
their dissolution consistent with the soundest policy, though it 
is doubtful whether it was not strengthened by other motives 
not altogether so patriotic : Be that as it may, Cranmer was con- 
sulted on the occasion, and approved of the resolution; but pro- 
posed that part of the revenues of the monasteries should be ap- 
plied to augment the number of bishopricks, that the bishops 
might have it more in their power to perform their several du- 
ties, according to the word of God and the primitive practice. 
He hoped also, that from these ruins schools might be erected 
in every diocese, under the inspection of the bishops, for the use 
and advantage of the whole diocese. But these noble sugges- 
tions were all defeated by the unchristian avarice and hypocri- 
tical management of some courtiers, who, neither fearing God, 
nor regarding the good of the community, sacrilegiously raised 
their own fortunes from the spoils of the church. 

When queen Anne Boleyn was sent to the tower, in conse- 
quence of a fit of jealousy on the part of the king, Cranmer, 
who was greatly concerned for her misfortune, did every thing 
in his power to assist her in her -great distress. He wrote a 
consolatory letter to Henry, in which, after recommending an 
equality of temper, he puts him in mind of the many and great 
obligations he lay under to the queen, and endeavoured to re- 
store him to good humour and feelings of compassion ; but nei- 
ther this, nor a letter written by the queen herself in the most 
moving terms, made the least impression on his relentless heart. 
Her ruin was predetermined; and after Cranmer had declared 
her marriage with the king null and void, in consequence of her 
confession, that a pre-engagement existed between her and the 
earl of Northumberland, she was tried in the tower, and exe- 
cuted on the 19th of May 1536. 

In 1537, Cranmer, with the joint authority of the other 
bishops, set forth the famous book, called The Erudition of a 
Christian Man. It was drawn up for a direction to the bishops 
and clergy, and formed an important step towards the after re- 
formation. There the universal power and pastorship of the 
bishop of Rome is declared to have no foundation whatever in 
the word of God. The church, of England is declared to be as 
truly apostolic and catholic as that of Rome or any other church; 
and all churches are therein declared to be equal in dignity, 
power and privilege, all built on the same foundation, govern- 
ed, guided, and conducted by the same spirit, and equally en- 
titled to the hope of a glorious immortality. The superstitious 
notions of the people respecting the ceremonies of the church 



190 MEMOIR OF 

are censured; the invocation of saints is restrained, and the re- 
mission of sins, grace and future happiness, are announced to 
be beyond their power to procure, and must therefore be applied 
for to God only. Justification is there set forth to be by the merit 
of Christ only; and the pope's pardon, and masses for the dead, 
are declared of no use in relieving souls from purgatory, con- 
cerning which we have no certainty from revelation. This was 
doing much toward a more perfect reformation, whenever pro- 
vidence should afford an opportunity. 

Cranmer had long meditated a new translation of the scrip- 
tures; he had often solicited his majesty on this subject, and 
at last obtained a grant to have them translated and printed. 
And so soon as the copies came to the archbishop's hand, he 
sent one to the lord Cromwell, desiring him to intercede with 
his majesty, that his subjects might have the privilege of using 
the scriptures without constraint; which Cromwell did, and the 
king readily acquiesced. Accordingly, injunctions were forth- 
with published, requiring that an English bible of the largest 
size should be procured for the use of every parish church, at 
the expense of the minister and church- wardens, and prohibiting 
all discouragement of the people in the reading of these scrip- 
tures, or of hearing them read. The book was received with 
universal joy. Those who possessed the means, purchased 
copies; the poor attended in crowds to hear it read, and many 
aged persons learned to read, that they might be enabled to per- 
use it themselves. 

In 1539, Cranmer, and the other bishops who favoured the 
reformation, fell under the displeasure of the king, because 
they could not be persuaded to give their consent, in parliament, 
that the revenues of all the monasteries should be bestowed on 
the king. They had been prevailed upon to consent, that all 
the lands, which his predecessors had bestowed on these foun- 
dations, should return to the crown, but the residue they insist- 
ed should be applied to the erection of hospitals, schools, and 
other charitable foundations. Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, 
and the rest of the popish faction, availed themselves of this 
promising opportunity to insinuate themselves into the king's 
favour, by their hypocritical flattery, and to incense him against 
the opposing party; and their conduct, on this occasion, has 
been considered, by many, as the cause of introducing the six 
bloody articles, whereby it was death to speak against transub- 
stantiation, or defend the communion in both kinds, the mar- 
riage of the clergy, private masses, or auricular confession. 
The archbishop argued boldly in the house for three days to- 
gether, and that so strenuously, that though the king was ob- 
stinate in passing the bill, yet he desired a copy of his reasons 



THOMAS CRANMER. 191 

against it, and showed no resentment to his opposition. The 
king endeavoured to persuade him, since he could not consent 
to the terms of the act, that it would be better to withdraw from 
the house; but after decently excusing himself, he told his ma- 
jesty, that he considered himself obliged, for the exonorating of 
his own conscience, to remain and show his dissent. When 
the bill passed, he entered his solemn protest against it, and 
soon after s-mt his wife privately off to her friends in Germany. 
The king, who loved him for his probity and courage, sent the 
dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, together with the lord Cromwell, 
to acquaint him with the esteem he had for him, notwithstand- 
ing his opposition to the act in question. 

In 1540 the king issued a commission to the archbishop, and 
a select number of bishops, to explain some of the principal 
doctrines of religion. The bishops drew up a set of articles fa- 
vourable to the old popish- superstitions, and meeting at Lam- 
beth, vehemently urged the archbishop to publish them, it be- 
ing the will and pleasure of the king; but neither by fear or 
flattery could he be induced to give his consent, notwithstand- 
ing that his friend, the lord Cromwell, was in the tower, and 
his own favour with the king supposed to be daily on the de- 
cline; but went in person and expostulated with his majesty, 
insomuch that he joined with Cranmer against the other bishops, 
and the book of articles was drawn up and passed according to 
his own mind. 

In this year a large folio copy of the English bible was pub- 
lished, with an excellent preface, written by the archbishop, 
and every parish commanded to provide one by the ensuing all- 
hallow-tide, under the penalty of forty shillings a month till 
they had so provided. The people were charged not to dispute 
about it, nor disturb divine service by reading during the mass, 
but to read it with reverence and humility for their instruction. 
Six of these great bibles were set up in different places in St. 
Paul's; but Bonner, ever inimical to the instruction of the 
people, posted up an hypocritical admonition beside them, that 
none should read them with vain-glory or corrupt affections, 
or draw multitudes about them when they read : But such was 
the public anxiety, that crowds gathered about those who read; 
and such as had strong voices used to read them aloud, in suc- 
cession, from morning till night. Parents now began to send 
their children to school; the people began to open their eyes and 
perceive the absurdity of the Romish doctrines and supersti- 
tions, which they could nowhere find in the bible. Bonner 
finding that the people were likely soon to become wiser than 
their teachers, and that if some measures were not adopted to 
prevent the circulation of these heretical notions, the church 



19^ MEMOIR OF 

would be in imminent danger. So deeply was lie impressed 
with this idea, that he posted a fresh advertisement, threaten- 
ing to remove the bibles if the people continued to make 
so scandalous an use of this privilege; and owing to the 
grievous complaints that he and his coadjutors made on this 
head, the use of the scriptures was much restrained. 

After the fall of Cromwell, Cranmer could easily perceive 
how the malignant spirit of his adversaries watched for an op- 
portunity to work his ruin, and therefore prudently retired, 
with a design of living with all the privacy that the duties of 
his station would permit. But Gardiner, his implacable ene- 
my, having procured Sir John Gostvvick to accuse him in par- 
liament, as one who encouraged novel opinions, and whose fa- 
mily was a nursery of heresy and sedition ; in consequence of 
which accusation, several lords of the privy council moved to 
commit him to the tower till the matter should be examined. 
The king, perceiving that there was more malice than truth in 
the charge laid against the archbishop, under the pretence of 
diverting himself on the water one evening, ordered his barge 
to be rowed to Lambeth side; and Cranmer, being informed of 
the royal approach, went out to pay his respects, and invite the 
king to his palace. The king called him into the barge, and 
ordered him to sit beside him, where his majesty apprised him 
of his danger from the malevolence and craft of his enemies; 
but assuring him of the confidence he had in his talents and 
integrity, he dismissed him with an approving smile. In the 
meantime, his adversaries pressed the king to send him to 
prison, and oblige him to answer to the charge of heresy. 
To their solicitations the king at last gave way, with the inten- 
tion, however, of learning who were chiefly concerned in this 
conspiracy, and to what lengths they intended to push their ani- 
mosity against him. Having so far succeeded in his design, he 
sent a gentleman of his bed-cliamber, at midnight, to fetch 
Cranmer to the palace, where he informed him how he had 
been importuned, and that he had so far complied. The arch- 
bishop expressed his willingness to have the matter sifted to the 
bottom, as he was conscious of nothing that he had done con- 
trary to the laws; but the king convinced hii?i that he was 
wrong, and that against a conspiracy so powerful, innocence 
would be an unavailing ground of defence; but suggested a plan 
of more hopeful dependence. To-morrow, said the king, you 
will be sent for to the privy council, and ordered to prison; upon 
this you must request, that seeing you have the honour to be 
one of the board, you may be admitted into the council, and 
the informers against you brought face to face; and if then you 
cannot clear yourself of the charges brought against you, you 



THOMAS CRANMER. 193 

are willing to go to prison. If this reasonable request be 
denied you, appeal to me, and give them this sign that you 
have my authority for so doing. Here the king took a ring of 
great value from his finger, and giving it to the archbishop, dis- 
missed him. 

Next morning the archbishop was summoned to the council, 
and when he arrived, was refused admittance into the council- 
chamber. Dr. Butts, one of the king's physicians, having 
heard how he had been treated, came to countenance him, and 
found him in the lobby amongst the footmen. The doctor soon 
acquainted the king how hardly Cranmer had been used; and 
his majesty, incensed that the primate of all England should be 
so unhandsomely treated, sent an order to admit him ; which 
was no sooner done, than he was saluted with the weighty 
charge of having infected the whole nation with heresy, and 
accordingly commanded to the tower till the charge was 
thoroughly investigated. Cranmer requested them to produce 
their informers, and allow him to defend himself; but finding 
that to these terms they would on no account submit, he ap- 
pealed to the king, and produced the ring; which put a stop to 
their unreasonable proceedings. When they came before the king, 
after reprimanding them, with cutting severity, he expatiated 
on the fidelity and integrity of Cranmer, and dwelt on the ma- 
ny obligations he lay under to him for his faithful and upright 
services, and charged them, if they had any affection for him- 
self, to express it by their love and kindness to his particular 
friend the archbishop. Cranmer, having thus escaped the 
snares laid for his life, never showed the least resentment to 
his enemies, and henceforward had such a share of the royal 
favour, that none of them would hazard a second attempt 
against him during the life of Henry. Cranmer has been 
blamed by many for his lenity towards the restless abettors of 
the Romish superstition, whereby it was thought the faction 
were encouraged to engage in fresh attempts against him. 

But now the archbishop, finding the juncture somewhat more 
auspicious, began to reason down the cruelty and the absurdity 
of the act of the six articles in the parliameiit-house, pressing for 
at least a mitigation of its severity; by which he made such an 
impression on the king and the temporal lords, that they agreed 
to an amendment, by which the act was considerably moderated. 

Soon after this, the king, preparing for an expedition against 
France, ordered a litany to be said for a blessing on his arms; 
the archbishop prevailed upon him to have it said in English, 
seeing the service performed in an unknown tongue made the 
people careless about attending the church. This, with the 
prohibition of some superstitious customs, touching vigils and 

7 2b 



194 MEMOIR OF 

the worship of the cross, was all that the reformation had gain- 
ed during the reign of Henry, the intended reformation of 
the canon law having been suppressed by the craft of bishop 
Gardiner, under the pretence of important reasons of state; be- 
sides, the king, towards the latter end of his reign, had taken a 
strong predilection for the Roman superstition, and used to 
frown to silence all who proposed measures in any way point- 
ing towards a reformation. 

On the 28th January 1546, Henry VIII. departed this life, 
and was succeeded by his son Edward, who was god-son to 
Cranmer, and had been educated by men favourable to the re- 
formation. Cranmer was one of those whom the late king had 
nominated for his executors, and who were to manage the go- 
vernment till Edward should arrive at eighteen years of age. 
The late king, whose manifold vices and irregularities was 
charged to the protestants by the popish party, died in the Ro- 
man faith; and, in his will, had left six hundred pounds per 
annum to defray the expense of masses for his soul, with pro- 
vision for four solemn obits every year; but Cranmer had in- 
fluence enough to lay the order aside, notwithstanding his so- 
lemn charge for its execution. 

On the 20th of February the coronation of king Edward was 
solemnized at Westminster Abbey. The ceremony was per- 
formed by Cranmer, who addressed the young king in an ex- 
cellent speech; in which, after censuring, with singular severity, 
the papal encroachments on the power and prerogatives of prin- 
ces, with a declaration, that the solemn ceremonies of a corona- 
tion add nothing to the authority of a prince, whose power is 
derived immediately from God, he went on to instruct the 
king of his duty, and exhorted him to follow the example of 
good Josiah, by regulating the worship of God, suppressing 
idolatry, executing j ustice, repressing violence, rewarding vir- 
tue, relieving the necessities of the poor, and punishing the vio- 
lators of the laws. The whole of this speech, which is too long 
for insertion, had such influence on the young monarch, that 
he resolved on a royal visitation, for the purpose of reforming 
religion, and rectifying the disorders of the church. The visi- 
tors were divided into six circuits, and every division had a 
preacher, whose business it was to preach down superstition, 
and predispose the people for receiving the meditated altera- 
tions. To make the impressions of their doctrine more lasting, 
and the doctrines themselves more uniform, the archbishop was 
anxious to have some homilies composed, that might, in a plain 
perspicuous manner, instruct the people in the grounds of true 
religion, and at the same time correct the errors and supersti- 
tions that so universally abounded. On this point he consulted 



THOMAS CRANMER. 19o 

the bishop of Winchester, and requested his countenance and 
assistance; but the bishop had very different ends in view, and 
in place of assisting Cranmer, wrote to the protector to crush 
the reformation in its infancy. Cranmer, perceiving that Gar- 
diner was obstinate and untractable, proceeded in his design 
without his concurrence, and published the first book of Homi- 
lies, principally composed by himself, and soon after had a trans- 
lation of Erasmus' Paraphrase on the New Testament placed in 
every church, for the instruction of the people. 

On the 5th of Nov. 1547, a convocation was held at St. Paul's, 
which the archbishop opened with a speech, wherein he put the 
clergy in mind of the necessity and importance of studying the 
scriptures, and conducting themselves by that unerring rule, in 
throwing off the corruptions and encroachments of the Roman 
church. But the terror of the act of the six articles, which 
still remained in force, alarmed the majority; which Cran- 
mer reporting to the council, prevailed with them to have it 
repealed. In this convocation the communion was ordered to 
be administered in both kinds to the people, and the lawfulness 
of the marriage of clergymen affirmed by a great majority. 

In the latter end of January Cranmer wrote to Bonner, 
charging him to forbid, throughout his diocese, the ridiculous 
processions, which, in the days of popery, were usually kept on 
candlesmas-day, ash-wednesday, and on palm-sunday, and to 
forward the notice of said prohibition to the neighbouring 
bishops, that these foolish processions might be everywhere 
abandoned. During this year the archbishop's catechism was 
published, entitled, A short instruction in Christian Religion, 
for the singular profit of children and young people; and also a 
Latin treatise of his on Unwritten Verities. From the cate- 
chism, it is plain he had now recovered himself from the extra- 
vagant notions which he formerly indulged for the regal supre- 
macy; for there he asserts the divine commission of bishops and 
priests, enlarges on the efficacy of their spiritual censures, and 
longs for the restoration of the primitive penitentiary dis- 
cipline. 

In 1550, Cranmer published his Defence of the true and 
Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament of the body and Hood of 
our Saviour Christ. He had, by the aid and advice of bishop 
Ridley, overcome the strong prejudices he so long laboured un- 
der in favour of transubstantiation ; and in this treatise refuted 
the absurdity of the notion, both by reason, scripture, and com- 
mon sense. The popish party were much alarmed at the pub- 
lication of this treatise, and soon after produced two answers, 
the one by Dr. Smith, and the other by bishop Gardiner : The 
archbishop triumphantly defended his book against both his 



196 MEMOIR OF 

antagonists in the opinion of all impartial readers. It was 
afterwards translated into Latin by Sir John Cheke, and highly 
esteemed by many learned foreigners, for the great knowledge 
therein exhibited, both of scripture and ecclesiastical antiquity. 

Another important step, in the progress of the reformation, 
was the publishing of the forty-two articles of religion, which, 
with the assistance of bishop Ridley, Cranmer drew up, with a 
vie^w to preserve and maintain the unity and purity of the 
church. These articles were revised by several other bishops 
and learned divines, and after their corrections, enlarged and 
farther improved by Cranmer, and agreed to in convocation 
1552, and published both in Latin and English 1553. 

Some time in the late reign, Cranmer had formed the design 
of reviewing and purging the old canon law from its popish cor- 
ruptions, and had made some progress in the work; but the king 
was prevailed upon to discountenance the whole design by the 
artifice of Gardiner, and others of the old school. In this reign, 
however, he resumed his design, and procured a commission 
from the king, for himself and other learned divines and lawyers, 
diligently to examine the old church laws, and to compile such 
a code as they considered most useful and expedient for 
the ecclesiastical courts, and most conducive to good order and 
discipline. The archbishop pressed forward this subject with 
vigour and alacrity; and, with the aid of his brother commis- 
sioners, had a fair copy ready for presenting to the king, when 
the death of this beloved monarch blasted this great undertak- 
ing, and prevented its confirmation. The book, however, was 
afterwards published, in 1571, by archbishop Parker, under the 
title Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum. 

Edward was now far gone in a consumption, not without sus- 
picion of having been so reduced by the operation of slow 
poison; and finding himself approaching his end, he began to 
consider the propriety of settling the succession. He had been 
persuaded, by the artifice of the duke of Northumberland, to 
exclude both his sisters, and bequeath the crown to lady Jane 
Gray, who was married to the duke's son. Northumberland, 
knowing the strong attachment of Edward to the principles of 
the reformation, dwelt on the imminent danger to which the 
protestant cause would be exposed under the government of the 
princess Mary, and that there remained no alternative but a 
protestant succession, or a restoration of popery, with all its ac- 
cumulating evils; but it appeared afterwards that the duke was 
a rank papist even at the time he thus misled the unsuspicious 
monarch. It was in vain that Cranmer opposed this change of 
the succession by every argument. The duke had deceived the 
king; he and his agents kept up the deception, and the will 



THOMAS CRANMER. 197 

being made, it was subscribed by the council and the judges; 
and Cranmer, at last giving up his own opinion to that of the 
heads of the law, reluctantly subscribed the instrument. 

On the 6th July 1553, Edward the VI. departed this life; and 
the archbishop having subscribed the king's will relative to the 
succession, considered himself, in conscience, bound to support 
the lady Jane; but her short-lived power was soon over, the 
people deserted her claim, and that of the princess Mary was 
universally acknowledged. Soon after her succession, a report 
went abroad that Cranmer, on purpose to ingratiate himself 
with the new queen, had offered to restore the Latin service, 
and that, as a proof of his sincerity, he had already said mass 
in his cathedral church of Canterbury. To clear himself of this 
scandalous aspersion, the archbishop published a notice, in 
which he declares the whole to be a false and malicious impu- 
tation, and offers to defend the liturgy of the church of England 
against all or any who chose to take up the cause of the po- 
pish hierarchy, in a public disputation. This challenge fell into 
the hands of his enemies, who sent a copy of the same to the 
queen's commissioner, and Cranmer was immediately sent for, 
and examined concerning it. Cranmer acknowledged it to be 
his, but complained that it had stolen abroad without his know- 
ledge in a very imperfect condition : That his intention was to 
have it reviewed and corrected, and after having affixed his 
seal, to have it posted on all the church doors of London, par- 
ticularly St. Paul's. This bold and extraordinary answer so 
enraged his enemies, that in a few days he was committed to 
the tower, there to remain till the queen's pleasure was known 
concerning him. Some of his friends, who foresaw the peril to 
which he should be exposed, advised him to consult his safety 
by retiring to the continent; but, considering the dishonour it 
would reflect on the cause he had espoused, and so strenuously 
defended, should he desert his post at a crisis so replete with 
danger, he chose rather to hazard his life than give such obvi- 
ous cause of scandal and offence. 

The parliaments of those days were composed of men of easy 
principles, who could yield to any thing that seemed agreeable 
to the royal will; accordingly Cranmer was attainted, about the 
middle of November, and adjudged guilty of high treason, and 
his see declared vacant. Cranmer wrote a very submissive 
letter to the queen, humbly acknowledging his fault in signing 
the king's will, acquainting her majesty, at the same time, how 
strenuously he had laboured to prevent it; and that he had only 
yielded in consequence of the unanimous voice of the lawyers, 
which he conceived were better judges of the constitution than 
himself. The queen had already pardoned many who had been 



198 MEMOIR OF 

much more deeply engaged in lady Jane's usurpation, so that 
Cranmer could not, with any appearance of justice, be denied; of 
course the treason was forgiven him; but, to gratify the malice 
of Gardiner, and the queen's implacable resentment for her 
mother's divorce, orders were issued to proceed against him on 
the score of heresy. 

The tower, at this time, was so crowded with prisoners, that 
Bradford, Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer, were all confined in 
the same apartment, for which they thankfully acknowledged 
the goodness of God, in thus affording them an opportunity of 
conversing together, reading and comparing the scriptures, con- 
firming themselves in the truth, and in mutually exhorting one 
another to stedfastness in professing, and patience in suffering, 
for the same. In April 1554, Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, 
were removed from the tower to Oxford, to dispute with some 
select persons of both universities. At his first appearance in 
the public schools, Cranmer had three articles offered him to 
subscribe, in which the corporeal presence of Christ in the sa- 
crament was asserted, and the mass declared to be a propitiatory 
sacrifice for the living and the dead. These tenets he rejected 
as utterly false, and promised to give them his answer in writ- 
ing; accordingly he drew it up, and when he was brought again 
to the disputation, he delivered the writing to the prolocutor, 
Dr. Weston. The disputation commenced at eight in the morn- 
ing, and continued till two in the afternoon, during which time 
the archbishop maintained his cause, with great learning and 
fortitude, against a multitude of insolent and clamorous anta- 
gonists. Three days after this he was again brought forth to 
oppose Dr. Harpsfield, who was to respond for his degree in 
divinity. Here Cranmer so clearly demonstrated the gross ab- 
surdities, and inextricable difficulties attending the doctrine of 
transubstantiation, that Weston himself, though a remarkable 
bigot, could not help dismissing him with commendations. 

On the 20th April Cranmer was brought before the queen's 
commissioners, and refusing to subscribe, was pronounced an 
heretic, and had the sentence of condemnation read out against 
him. Cranmer told them that their sentence was unjust, and 
from their partial decision he appealed to the judgment of the 
only wise God, by whom, he trusted, he would be received into 
his heavenly kingdom and glory. After this his servants were 
dismissed, and himself put under close confinement. In the 
latter end of this year a popish convocation did him the honour 
to cause his book on the sacrament to be burnt, in company 
with the English bible and the book of common prayer. In 
the meantime, Cranmer passed his solitary hours in vindicating 
his book on the sacrament from the objections of bishop Gar- 
diner. 



THOMAS CRANMER. 199 

In 1555 a new commission from Rome arrived at Oxford to 
try the archbishop for heresy, the former sentence being void 
in law, inasmuch as the pope's authority had not then been re- 
established in England. On the 12th September they met at 
St. Mary's church; and being seated at the high altar, com- 
manded the archbishop to be brought before them. Cranmer 
paid all due respect to the queen's commissioners, as they re- 
presented the supreme authority of the nation, but absolutely 
refused to pay any regard to the pope's legate, lest he should 
appear to acknowledge the authority of the pope. Brooks, in 
a long oration, exhorted him to consider from whence he had 
fallen, and return to his holy mother, the catholic church, and 
by his example of repentance, reclaim those his past errors 
had misled. 

Dr. Martin opened the trial in a short speech, in which he 
stated the charges laid agaiust him, namely, perjury in respect 
to his oath to the pope, incontinence in regard to his marriage, 
and heresy on account of the exertions he had made in promot- 
ing the reformation. The archbishop defended himself against 
these charges, by proving that the pope's jurisdiction in Eng- 
land was an usurpation, contrary to the natural allegiance of 
the subject, the fundamental laws of the country, and the ori- 
ginal constitution of the christian church; and, in the conclu- 
sion of his defence, he boldly charged Brooks with perjury, in 
sitting there by the pope's authority, which he had sworn to 
renounce. Brooks endeavoured to retort the charge on the 
archbishop, by stating that he had seduced him to take the 
oath in question. This, however, Cranmer told him was noto- 
riously false, as the pope's supremacy had been renounced by 
archbishop Warham, his predecessor, who sent the question to 
the universities for their opinion; which opinion was, that the 
supremacy was vested by God in the king and not in the pope : 
That this document had the university seal affixed to it; and 
that Brooks himself had subscribed the same, and therefore 
wronged him by asserting that he had in any way seduced him. 
This repulse had the effect of covering Brooks with shame and 
confusion, insomuch, that having no better answer at hand, he 
cried out, si We came here to examine you, and now you begin 
to examine us." In the meantime, that Brooks might have 
leisure to recover himself, Dr. Story began to rail at the arch- 
bishop, in a very indecent manner, for rejecting the authority 
of his judge, and moved Brooks to demand a direct answer to 
the crimes of which he had been accused; with certification, 
that if he still continued to deny the authority of the pope, and 
decline answering to the charges brought against him, they 
would, without a moment's farther delay, proceed to sentence 



SOO MEMOIR OF 

him. And after a short conversation between Dr. Martin and 
the archbishop, relative to the supremacy and the eucharist, his 
answer was peremptorily demanded. Cranmer replied to each 
charge distinctly, in answers so copious, so clear, and confound- 
ing to his adversaries, that Brooks was under the necessity of 
making another harangue, to remove, if possible, the impression 
his defence had made on the minds of the people. This oration 
of Brooks was utterly unbecoming the gravity of a bishop. It 
consisted in scurrility and unchristian railings, together with 
shameful and sophistical misapplications both of the scriptures 
and the writings of the fathers. Brooks having done his best 
to turn the minds of the spectators against the archbishop, he 
was then cited to appear at Rome, to answer before the pontiff, 
within fourscore days. Cranmer said he should be very will- 
ing to go to Rome and vindicate the reformation, even before 
the pope, providing the queen would suffer him to travel 
so far. 

When Dr. Martin asked him who was head of the church of 
England, Cranmer replied, " Christ, who is the head of the 
whole body of the catholic church, is also the head of the 
church of England, which constitutes one of the members of 
that universal body." Martin again demanded, " Whether he 
had not declared king Henry head of the church ?" " Yes 
(said Cranmer), head of all the people of England, as well 
ecclesiastical as temporal." " What ! (says Martin), and not 
the head of the church ?" "No (replied the archbishop), for 
Christ alone is head of his church, and of her faith and 
religion." 

In February 1556 Bonner and Thirlby were appointed to 
degrade the archbishop ; and having arrived at Oxford for that 
purpose, he was brought before them; and after having read 
their commission from the pope, Bonner insulted him in a bit- 
ter, malevolent, and most unchristian like oration, for which he 
was often rebuked by bishop Thirlby, who had been Cranmer's 
particular friend, and could not avoid shedding many tears on 
the occasion. In the commission from the pope, it was declar- 
ed that Cranmer's cause had got an impartial hearing at Rome : 
That the evidence on both sides had been candidly examined, 
and that Cranmer's advocate was allowed to make the best de- 
fence for him that he could. On the reading of this part of the 
paper, Cranmer could not forbear crying out, " Good God, 
what a tissue of lies : That I, who have been confined in close 
prison, and not permitted to bring forward any evidence, or al- 
lowed counsel to defend my innocence here at home, could pro- 
cure witnesses, and appoint my counsel at Rome ! This lying 
process is so ignorantly and insultingly wicked, that God will, 



THOMAS CRANMEB. c 201 

no doubt, punish such audacity even in this life." When Bon- 
ner had finished his invective, they proceeded to degrade him ; 
and to make him appear the more ridiculous, the episcopal habit 
they then put upon him was made up of sackcloth and party- 
coloured rags. The archbishop drew from his sleeve a written 
appeal, whicli^ he delivered to the bishops, telling them, at the 
same time, that he was not sorry, and thought it no disgrace to 
be thrust out of their church, even with all their superstitious 
pageantry : that the pope had no authority over him, and that 
he appealed to the next general council. Having thus degrad- 
ed him, they dressed him in a thread-bare beadle's gown, and 
put a townsman's cap on his head, and so consigned him over 
to the civil magistrate. 

While Cranmer continued in prison, no expedient was left 
untried that seemed calculated for winning him over to the 
Romish religion. Many of the most eminent divines in the 
university resorted to the prison daily, if by any means they 
might restore him to the mother-church : The more conspicuous 
he had been as a leader in the reformation, the more exceed- 
ingly anxious were they to bring him off; or failing, to ruin his 
reputation for ever with his friends and adherents : But their 
best endeavours were in vain, he was not to be shaken by all 
the terrors they could conjure up, even the inhuman cruelty 
exercised towards his dear and affectionate associates, Ridley 
and Latimer, only seemed to strengthen his resolution of resist- 
ance even unto blood. 

But the papists, finding the more they evil entreated him, the 
bolder and more inflexible he became; this suggested the pro- 
priety of attempting his fidelity by flattery, and a hypocritical 
profession of friendship. Accordingly, they removed him from 
prison to the lodgings of the dean of Christ church, where they 
treated him with the greatest civility and respect; made him 
large promises of the queen's particular favour; that he would 
be restored to his former dignity, with an accumulation of 
honours and preferment if he would only recant. And here we 
have an astonishing demonstration, both of the inflexible firm- 
ness and imbecility of the human character; we have here also 
an evidence, that insult, and every species of unnecessary se- 
verity, tends to fortify the human mind in its resolution of re- 
sistance. We have no reason to believe, that had Cranmer 
been subjected to continued insult, scurrility, and abuse, similar 
to that with which Bonner and Brooks had formerly abused him, 
he would ever have made such a dishonourable sacrifice and 
shipwreck of his profession. But a soft answer break eth the 
bone; men are sometimes easily led, whom no man, or body of 
men, could drive. But to do the archbishop justice, he was 
8 2 c 



202 MEMOIR OF 

most ingeniously led into this grand error; which the progress 
of the plot, laid for his disgrace, will sufficiently manifest. The 
copy of his recantation ran thus : " Forasmuch as the king's 
and queen's majesties, by consent of their parliament, have re- 
ceived the pope's authority in this realm, I am content to sub- 
mit myself to their laws herein, and to take the pope for the 
chief head of this church of England, so far as God's laws, and 
the laws and customs of this realm, will permit. 

Thomas Cranmer." 
In this paper, which was presented to Cranmer for his sub- 
scription, his enemies had left a door of escape for the con- 
science of the archbishop, whom they seemed to leave at liberty 
to examine the pope's authority by the laws of God, and also 
by the laws and customs of the realm, and acquiesce or reject 
according as he found the pope's authority corresponding, or 
otherwise, with these rules; and there is a strong probability, 
that Cranmer believed that this was all that was required of 
him; but his hypocritical flatterers only wanted to break 
in upon his fidelity, and conquer his opposition by degrees. 
The queen and her council were not satisfied, it was not suffi- 
ciently explicit, and another paper, in fewer words, but more com- 
prehensive, was sent down ; which was again considered ambigu- 
ous; and a third succeeded the second, and so on to the sixth ? 
which was drawn up in terms so strong and comprehensive, 
that nothing remained to be added. In this sixth recantation, 
the worshipping of angels, saints, relics, pilgrimages, purgatory, 
and, in short, all the errors and absurdities of the Romish reli- 
gion, are acknowledged. This paper Cranmer subscribed on the 
18th of March, under the apprehension, that he should not only 
save his life, but also reap the benefit of the many liberal pro- 
mises which these deceivers had given him, quite uncon- 
scious that the writ was already signed that doomed him to the 
stake in three days thereafter, namely, the twenty-first of the 
same month, and that Dr. Cole was sent to Oxford to prepare a 
sermon for the occasion. The day before his execution, Cole 
visited him in prison, whither, when they had obtained their 
purpose, they had again removed him, and asked him if he still 
stood firm in the faith he had subscribed; to which he returned 
a satisfactory answer. The next morning Cole visited him 
again, exhorted him to constancy, and gave him money to dis- 
tribute amongst the poor as he saw occasion. Soon after he 
was brought to St. Mary's church, and placed on a low scaffold 
opposite to the pulpit, and Dr. Cole began his sermon. Here 
the doctor laboured to find reasons to justify the execution of 
Cranmer, notwithstanding that he had recanted under a pro- 
mise of forgiveness. In the close of his discourse, Cole ad- 



THOMAS CRANMER. 203 

dressed himself particularly to the archbishop, exhorting him to 
bear up, with courage, against the terrors of death; and having 
the example of the thief on the cross before him, not to despair, 
since, like him, though late, he was now restored to the bosom 
of the catholic church, and to the profession of the true apos- 
tolic faith. Cranmer, who had the first notice of his intended 
execution from Cole's sermon, was horror-struck at the thought 
of the mean duplicity, and unparalleled cnielty of his ene- 
mies. Transactions, in every respect so base, unworthy, and dis- 
graceful, that devils themselves would be ashamed to acknow- 
ledge. The agony, the bitter anguish and perplexity of his soul, 
were past description. During the sermon he wept incessantly, 
sometimes lifting his eyes towards heaven, sometimes casting 
them down to the ground in the most pitiable dejection. When 
it was ended, he was called upon to make a confession of his 
faith, and give the world the satisfaction of his dying a good 
catholic. Accordingly, he kneeled down, and prayed to the fol- 
lowing effect : " O Father of heaven; O Son of God, Redeemer 
of the world ; O Holy Spirit proceeding from both, have mercy on 
me, a most wretched and miserable sinner. I, who have inex- 
pressibly offended both against heaven and earth, whither shall 
I go, or where shall I fly for help. To heaven I am ashamed 
to lift up mine eyes; and on earth I find no refuge — What then 
shall I do ? Must I therefore despair ? God forbid. O thou 
good and merciful God, who rejects none who fly to thee for 
succour, to thee I fly, to thee I resign myself, in thee I confide. 
O Lord my God, my sins are many and great; yet, according 
to the abundance of thy goodness, have mercy on me. O God 
the Son, thou wast not made man for few or small offences 
only, neither, O God the Father, didst thou give thy Son for 
our smaller transgressions, but also for the greatest sins of the 
whole world, so that the sinner return imto thee with a peni- 
tent heart, as I do in this hour of extremity. Therefore, O 
Lord, take pity upon me, for though my sins are great, yet thy 
mercy is still greater. I crave nothing, O Lord, for my own 
merits, but for thy great name's sake, and for the sake of thy 
dear Son, in whose words I conclude. Our Father, &c. 

Prayer being ended, he rose from his knees, and made a con- 
fession of his faith, beginning with the creed, and concluding, 
he said, " I also believe every word and sentence taught by our 
Saviour Jesus Christ, his apostles and prophets, both in the Old 
and New Testament. I am well aware of the duty I owe to 
my sovereign, and the laws of my country; which duty I sin- 
cerely recommend to all present; but I am also aware, that this 
duty extends no farther than to submit to their commands, and 
suffer, with unresisting patience, whatever hardships they 



204 MEMOIR OF 

choose to impose upon me, while a higher authority commands., 
and a superior duty obliges me to speak truth on all occasions, 
and not basely relinquish the holy doctrines which the Almighty 
has revealed to mankind, to direct their way through the maze 
of this life, and animate their hopes of a future and more glori- 
ous existence. And now, continued the archbishop, I come to 
the most important concern of my whole life, and that which 
troubles my conscience inexpressibly more than any thing I 
have ever said or done; that is, the insincere declaration of 
faith to which I had the weakness to consent, and which the 
fear of death alone extorted from me; which declarations, I take 
this opportunity, with the most unequivocal sincerity, in pre- 
sence of this assembly, publicly to reriounce, as articles signed 
by my hand contrary to the conviction and fixed belief of my 
heart, and written under the terrors of death, in the hopes of 
saving my life; which miscarriage of mine I most sincerely re- 
pent; and reckoning that the terrors of death, and all the ex- 
cruciating tortures of the fire, are nothing compared with the 
conscious feelings of my ingratitude and baze infidelity towards 
my God and Saviour, that now rankle in this disconsolate and 
agonized bosom, I am ready to seal with my blood, these 
doctrines, which I firmly believe, were communicated from hea- 
ven; and this unworthy right hand, that has betrayed my heart, 
may I come to the fire, shall first suffer the forfeit of its offence." 
Having thus surprised the audience, who had no suspicion of a 
contrary declaration, he was admonished not to dissemble. 
" Ah ! (said he), from a child I have hated falsehood, and been 
a lover of simplicity; nor, till beset with the terrors of death, 
and seduced by the promises of hypocritical men, who conspir- 
ed against my honour and my life, have I ever dissembled." 
Thus disappointed, the popish crowd were enraged to mad- 
ness, and Cranmer was torn from the stage, and, with marks 
of enthusiastic fury, hurried to the place of his execution 
over against Baliol college. Here he put off his clothes in 
haste; and standing in his shirt, without shoes, was chained to 
the stake, amid the insnlts of his enemies. But summoning up 
all the powers of his mind, he endured the scorn, as well as the 
torture of his punishment, with matchless fortitude. He 
stretched out his hand into the flame, without betraying, 
either by his countenance or motions, the least appearance of 
weakness, or even of feeling, and held it in the flames till it 
was entirely consumed. His thoughts seemed wholly occupied 
on his former fault; he called aloud several times, this hand has 
offended; and satisfied at last with the atonement it had made, 
his countenance became serene, insomuch, that when the fire, 
attacked* his body, he seemed quite insensible of his outward 



THOMAS CRANMER. 205 

sufferings; whilst the energies of his soul, eomprest together 
within itself, seemed to repel the fury of the flames. 

Tims perished, at Oxford, by means of a most artful and 
hypocritical deception, a flagrant and Jesuitical breach of pro- 
mise, and the rage of disappointed bigotry and blinded zeal, to 
the everlasting disgrace both of the doctrines and dignitaries of 
the Romish church, Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Can- 
terbury, in the sixty-seventh year of his age; and though by 
no means exempted from the faults and frailties incident to 
our nature, yet was he a very remarkable and highly-deserving 
man. His inquiries after truth were made with singular can- 
dour, while the changes he contemplated were conducted with 
caution, and prosecuted with unrelinquishing perseverance. He 
considered the Romish church a very corrupt and superstitious 
community, from the tyranny, the errors, and abominable su- 
perstitions of which, it was the duty of every christian to with- 
draw, and to do this, whatever might be the consequence. But 
conceiving that conviction was an indispensable pre-requisite to 
conversion, he chose to convince the people by arguments drawn 
from scripture, reason, and even from common sense, rather 
than force them, by the severity of sanguinary laws, to adopt a 
religion they did not understand, and in this way to open 
the eyes of the people to the truths of primitive Christianity, 
and lead them, as willing converts, to the faith of the reform- 
ation. 

With this view, Cranmer laboured himself, and encouraged 
others to write, preach, and hold public disputations on the 
controverted points of faith, that he might establish the truth 
in the understanding and affections of the people; and, consid- 
ering the powerful opposition that withstood his best endeavours, 
his success was certainly great. Even under the boisterous 
reign of Henry VIII., though always retarded, and often arrest- 
ed in his reforming career, he never relinquished his purpose in 
despair, but continued to do whatever still remained in his 
power, patiently waiting for more propitious opportunities; as 
we have seen in the affair of the act of the six articles, which, 
for three successive days, he strenuously opposed^ parliament, 
and failing, lodged his solemn protest against it; and on the first 
opportunity, finding it impossible to obtain a repeal of that 
tyrannical enactment, he seriously set about mitigating its seve- 
rity, which he happily effected. The whole tenor of his coii-^ 
duct, from his first embracing the reforming doctrines, gives 
evidence of his hearty zeal in that cause, which renders his me- 
lancholy misgivings the more surprising. Owing to the irre- 
sistible force of prejudice, and carried away with the current of 
public opinion, which few men, even of the greatest character. 



206 MEMOIR OF 

have ever been able wholly to forego, Cranmer is also chargeable 
with consenting to some acts of blood, even under the mild 
reign of Edward the VI. ; and by his counsel constraining that 
young prince to a very reluctant acquiescence. This was 
equally lamentable and surprising, as his whole conduct points 
him out as a person naturally mild and humane, and by no 
means cruel and vindictive. The goodness of his nature, and 
the generosity of his sentiments, appear conspicuous in his en- 
deavours to save the life of Sir Thomas More and bishop Fisher, 
who, whatever might be their other virtues, were implacable 
enemies, and cruel persecutors of the protestants, of whom he 
was considered the principal leader. He also protested in par- 
liament against the attainting of the duke of Norfolk, his most 
mveterate enemy. 

Upon the whole, he was a man of distinguished learning and 
capacity; his life was adorned with candour and sincerity, be- 
nevolence, and all those virtues that serve to make a man ami- 
able and useful in society. His moral qualities procured him 
universal respect; and his inflexible fortitude, manifested at the 
stake, has so wiped off his reproach, that after every deduction 
that reason and justice requires, he will be acknowledged as 
one. of the most illustrious characters in the ecclesiastical his- 
tory of England. 

Of Cranmer's printed works we consider it unnecessary to 
give a formal list. His mind is essentially interwoven with the 
articles, homilies, liturgy, and general spirit of the church of 
England, which furnish him with an eulogy, to which no addi- 
tion is requisite. We shall shortly mention such of his works 
as still remain in manuscript. — 1st, Two large volumes collected 
from the scriptures, the primitive fathers, the later doctors and 
schoolmen, the first containing 545, and the second 559 pages; 
they refer principally to the controversies with Rome, viz. 
The seven sacraments, invocation of saints, images, relics, of 
true religion and superstition, the mass, prayer, the Virgin 
Mary, &c; these are in the King's library. — 2d, The lord Bur- 
leigh had six or seven volumes more. — 3d, Dr. Burnet mentions 
two other volumes which he had seen, supposed now to be lost. 
And, 4th, several letters in the Cotton library. 



ROBERT FERRAR, 

Bishop of St. David's. 

Amongst the illustrious champions for the reformation, 
we cannot avoid giving some account of this venerable prelate, 



ROBERT FERRAR. 207 

notwithstanding that history affords little more concerning him 
than the circumstances that occasioned or immediately preced- 
ed and attended his martyrdom. 

Mr Ferrar was educated at Oxford, and became a canon re- 
gular of St. Mary's in that university, where he also proceeded 
to the degree of bachelor of divinity. It appears that the duke 
of Somerset, lord protector of England, during the minority of 
Edward the VI., and a warm friend to the reformation, was 
Mr Ferrar's patron, who, judging him a proper instrument for 
promoting that important work, procured for him the vacant 
bishoprick of St. David's in Wales, to which he was consecrat- 
ed on the 9th of September 1547. In performing the duties of 
this new office, bishop Ferrar's zeal, for the cause of reformation, 
soon procured him a host of enemies amongst the papists and 
their credulous adherents. At the fall of the protector, his 
patron, whose death was effected soon after this by the intrigues 
of his enemies, these malicious people became extremely trou- 
blesome to this excellent man, and through the agency and vil- 
lanous artifice of two ungrateful officers of his own see, procur- 
ed an attachment against him, by which, some short time be- 
fore the king's death, he was committed to prison, under a debt 
pretended to be due from his bishoprick to the crown. Nor 
can it be supposed that such an active promoter of the reforma- 
tion, as bishop Ferrar, was at all likely to obtain his liberty 
during the following reign of bigotry and Romish superstition. 
Instead of a praemunere, with which those, who wished him 
turned out of his bishoprick, had formerly charged him, he was 
now attacked on the score of heresy by others, in whose eyes no- 
thing less than his blood could atone for his protestant opinions. 
Accordingly, on the 4th of February 1555, he was brought, in 
company with bishop Hooper, Messrs Rogers, Bradford, Saunders, 
and others, before that persecuting bully of the Roman church, 
Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, who, according to his usual 
practice on similar occasions, treated both him and his associ- 
ates with the greatest asperity and vulgar abuse, and particu- 
larly threatened to make a short work of it with Mr Ferrar, in 
which, for once, he was as good as his word, so that the harm- 
less bishop was hurried away to his death, without even the 
formalities of law or justice. 

Judging by the liberty, civil and religious, at present enjoyed 
by all ranks of the people, it may seem astonishing that men 
were suffered to be condemned with so little ceremony, and re- 
gard even to the forms of justice, as we find they were, parti- 
cularly under the short and bloody reign of queen Mary. But 
ecclesiastical tyranny now restored, the church was so earnestly 
engaged in extinguishing the latent sparks of religious liberty, 



208 MEMOIR OF ROBERT FERRAR. 

that bigotry swallowed up every other consideration. But the 
abuse of power, on this occasion, led, as it always must, to the 
examination of the foundation on which it rested: for men 
never suffer extremities without setting their ingenuity to work, 
if by any means they may discover some mode of relief. Hence 
this merciless persecution tended more to the destruction of 
popery, in the kingdom of England, than the most unqualified 
toleration could have effected : for wherever force is admitted 
as a necessary argument in defending any set of opinions, the 
most ignorant are at no loss to determine who have the truth 
on their side of the controversy. 

With regard, however, to bishop Ferrar, the queen's council, 
that they might trample down every thing like justice, order, 
or common decency, sent him away to his own diocese in order 
to be condemned, not by a court of ecclesiastics commissioned 
for that particular purpose, where, as Solomon says, in the mul- 
titude of counsellors there is safety, but by an individual, and 
that highly-honoured personage, Morgan, the identical successor 
of the maltreated bishop of St. David's. Deeply interested in the 
disgraceful transaction he had undertaken to accomplish, and, in 
all probability, happy to embrace such a rare opportunity of 
putting his rival out of the way; in order also to find 
something like a plausible pretence for such an unheard-of 
atrocity, he examined Ferrar on a few articles; which the 
bishop not being disposed to answer to his satisfaction, this 
new bishop of St. David's, this solitary judge of orthodox and 
heretical sentiments, denounced the opinions of his fallen pre- 
decessor as damnable heresies; and having degraded him from 
his ecclesiastical functions, delivered him over to the secular 
powers, the knuckling tools of prelatic malice, persecution, 
and murder. The secular power, nothing deficient in loyalty 
to the queen, or servility to the clergy, soon brought this in- 
nocent victim forth as a lamb to the slaughter, and had him 
burnt on the south side of the market-cross of Carmarthen, 
on Saturday, the 13th of March 1555. Of this faithful martyr 
Mr Fox says, that he stood the fire so patiently, that he never 
moved, but in the same posture as he stood, holding up his 
flaming stumps, so he continued to stand, till one Richard 
Gravell, with a staff, dashed him upon the head, and so struck 
him down into the fire. 



209 
SHORT INTRODUCTION 

TO 

THE LIVES OF THE PURITANS, 



The English nation, under Henry VIII., having renounced 
the jurisdiction of Rome : The loss of such an important de- 
partment of his spiritual kingdom exasperated the Roman pon- 
tiff almost to madness; but finding his power and influence un- 
equal to the task of recovering his supremacy, he carefully 
watched every movement of the English government, in hopes 
that more auspicious circumstances might enable him to reclaim 
his scattered flock, and once more gather them together under 
the maternal wings of the Romish church. During the life of 
Henry he was not altogether without hope; but the piety and 
protestant principles of Edward his successor, together with 
the rapid progress of the reformation, almost drove him to de- 
spair. The short reign of this amiable prince, however, opened 
the way for his sister Mary to the throne, a bigoted papist, na- 
turally peevish, and so much soured to resentment for the in- 
justice done to her mother and herself by the reformers, that 
the pope found her a tool, in every respect fitting for the work 
he intended to put into her hands. The circumstances were 
promising, the moment was precious, and the holy father was 
determined not to let it slip. Accordingly, his paternal admoni- 
tions, together with those of her ghostly directors, were so con- 
genial to the narrow and intolerant soul of Mary, that they 
were, on all occasions, implicitly and cordially embraced, and 
executed with such a rigour of vengeance, that every considera- 
tion of sound policy and humane feeling were swallowed up in 
the raging propensity to extirpate heresy from her dominions, 
and restore the glory of holy mother-church. Hence, in the 
short space of three years, two hundred and seventy-seven in- 
dividuals were brought to the stake, and consumed in the 
flames, independent of vast numbers who suffered by cruel im- 
prisonments, and a variety of tortures, or were ruined by fines, 
or the confiscation of their property. Of those who perished in 
the fire, there were five bishops, twenty-one clergymen, eight 
gentlemen, eighty-four tradesmen, one hundred husbandmen, 
servants, and labourers, fifty-five women, and four children. 
8 2d 



210 SHORT INTRODUCTION TO 

Aware of the impossibility of burning, or otherwise destroying 
all the reformers, they endeavoured to flatter and cajole them 
into their measures; and those who continued refractory were 
hurried to prison, where a string of articles were offered them 
to subscribe, and whoever had the hardihood to reject the 
queen's mercy, thus brought to their very hand, were denounc- 
ed as obstinate heretics, and sent to the flames. This merciless 
mode of procedure, they presumed, would soon silence all op- 
position; but they were too sanguine in their expectations, for 
notwithstanding of all the victims, thus cruelly sacrificed, the 
heretics were rapidly increasing in number, resolution, and im- 
placable animosity against the perpetrators of these disgusting 
atrocities, which were already become odious to the whole na- 
tion; as appeared in the opposition of the new parliament. 

During this period of intolerant and persecuting severity, 
those protestant clergymen, who escaped the fangs of this royal 
tigress and her blood-hounds, were dispersed, and fled for safety 
to the protestant countries on the continent, where they were 
received, particularly at Geneva, with the most fraternal hospi- 
tality. On the death of Mary, her sister Elizabeth was placed 
upon the throne, and the persecuted exiles returned with joy- 
ful hearts to their native country, and were restored to their 
flocks, and the exercise of their ministry in the churches from 
which they had been expelled : But most of them, during their 
absence, had become strongly attached to the simple ceremonial 
of Geneva, and other reformed churches on the continent; and 
finding so much of the Romish superstition still retained in the 
liturgy of the church of England, had their doubts how far it 
was lawful for them to conform; anxious, at the same time, to 
purge the ritual of the church of England down to something 
like the simplicity of the foreign churches. Here, however, they 
were opposed by the whole body of the dignified clergy, many of 
whom had been papists, and conformed to save their livings, 
and, in hopes of another change, were desirous to keep as near 
as possible to the establishment they had left. But, above 
all, the imperious queen, who, together with her crown, in- 
herited also, from her father, a superabundant portion of his 
tyrannical spirit, held to the very letter of her supremacy with 
unreasonable tenacity, prohibiting all innovations. Though 
her interest and inclination seemed to concur with her educa- 
tion in making her a determined protestant, yet she evinced a 
feminine fondness for the external pomp and gaudy splendour 
of worship, and inclined rather to extend than diminish the 
established ceremonial; nor were the rigid manners of these pious 
exiles at all congenial to her spirit, which greatly betrayed the 
hypocrisy of her outward profession of the protestant religion. 



THE LIVES OF THE PURITANS. 211 

Her imperious temper, her vanity and duplicity, her profane 
swearing, and a multitude of other acts, utterly inconsistent 
with the purity and gentleness of the religion of the Son of 
God, might perhaps be consistent with the character of a female 
despot, but altogether incompatible with that of a good christian. 
These excellent men were anxious to restore the church of Eng- 
land, as near as possible, to the primitive and apostolic simpli- 
city, and were joined by numbers of others, holding similar 
opinions; but they were accounted, by their adversaries, as too 
rigidly righteous, and, in consequence of their non-conformity, 
their becoming gravity, and christian-like conversation, they 
were stigmatized with the name of puritans; an appellation by 
which men of similar principles continue still to be distinguish- 
ed in the church of England. 

But in place of conceding any thing to the wishes and con- 
scientious scruples of the puritans, the queen published the act 
of uniformity, and enforced its intolerant enactments with all 
the rigour of her sovereign power. The puritans, exasperated 
by a treatment they so little expected, and conscious that, after 
their long and arduous sufferings, they so little deserved, could 
no longer abstain from bitter invectives against their oppressors. 
The puritans were charged with obstinacy and unnecessary 
scrupulosity; while they, on the other hand, charged their op- 
ponents with insolence and intolerance. The peace-makers, 
on both sides, could not be heard amid the heated passions and 
noisy clamours of the contending parties, neither of whom were 
disposed to yield or compromise the points in dispute, so that 
the breach widened apace. With regard to the doctrines main^ 
tained in the church, both parties were cordially agreed, and 
equally tenacious; and if any difference, perhaps the puritans 
were more so than even their adversaries; and though some of 
them were for a thorough reformation of the church from every 
remnant of the Roman superstition, yet the more moderate of 
the party, which perhaps constituted the majority, would have 
thankfully received a few concessions to remove the most ob- 
noxious grounds of their objections to the established forms; of 
which, the article of vestments, the sign of the cross in baptism, 
the ring in marriage, kneeling when receiving the sacrament, 
and some similar rites, formed the most conspicuous part. But 
the refusal to grant a liberal toleration, with a determination, 
at the same time, to silence the murmurs of the people by the 
strong arm of power, in place of answering the purposes in- 
tended, only served to render them more inimical to the govern- 
ment, and more united amongst themselves. 

The dignified clergy, who were the principal abettors of these 
coercive measures under queen Elizabeth, seem to have been 



21^ SHORT INTRODUCTION, &C. 

little acquainted with the human character, and to have made 
still less use of the experience of former ages, when they adopt- 
ed a plan of policy, which had always proved abortive in the 
hands of their persecuting predecessors, and which, so long as 
the mental and corporeal conformation of mankind remains un- 
changed, must be equally unsuccessful in the hands of their 
successors. These intolerant ecclesiastics must have known, 
that the cruelties and insatiable encroachments of the Roman 
pontiffs had lately lost them the supremacy of nearly one half 
of the European population; and that the recent persecution 
under queen Mary, had so disgusted the good people of Eng- 
land at the very name of popery, that his holiness had been 
thereby bereaved of the consolation, even of hope, that he should 
ever regain his pretended supremacy in that kingdom. The in- 
flexible fortitude of the martyrs, who embraced the flames at 
Smithfield, Oxford, and elsewhere, might also have taught them, 
that unless they could convince men, they would not believe 
them; that unless they do them justice, they will neither love 
nor honour them; and that, without their own good pleasure, no 
power on earth can make them obey. But an overweaning 
conceit of their own wisdom and superior policy, together with 
the bewitching anticipations of power, honour, and emolument, 
urged them to acts of oppression and uncharitable severity, and 
introduced into the church animosity and disorder, of which the 
following generations experienced the terrible consequences; 
while each predominating party, in their turn, abused the power 
they had acquired; and, instead of a liberal toleration, smote, 
with the sword of the civil magistrate, all who refused to con- 
form to their exclusive establishments. 

Having already introduced the lives of a number of the most 
conspicuous martyrs, who suffered under the bloody reign of 
queen Mary, we now proceed with the lives of the most dis- 
tinguished of the persecuted puritans. 



MILES COVERDALE, D. D. 

This highly distinguished puritan divine was born in 
Yorkshire, 1486, and had his education at the university of 
Cambridge, where he became an augustine monk. At Tubin- 
gen in Germany, he took his doctor's degree, and was incorpo- 
rated in the same at Cambridge. He renounced his popish 
principles at an early period of the reign of Henry VIII., and 
became an avowed and zealous reformer. He was one of the 
first who publicly preached the gospel in its purity, after the 



MEMOIR OF MILES COVERDALE, "213 

king had renounced the authority of Rome., and entirely devot- 
ed himself to the promotion of the protestant cause. In 1528 
lie preached at Brunsted in Essex, and publicly declared against 
the mass, the worship of images, and auricular confession, de- 
claring that contrition for sin, between God and a man's own 
conscience, rendered confession to a priest altogether useless. 
His labours, in this place, were blessed with much success; and 
amongst many whose hearts were touched with the doctrines he 
taught, he was honoured with being instrumental in turning 
one Thomas Toplady from the errors of popery, who afterwards 
sealed the truth with his blood. Coverdale, soon after this, 
finding himself in danger of the fire, fled beyond seas, and lived 
for some time in Holland, where he chiefly applied himself to 
the translation of the scriptures. In the year 1529, Mr William 
Tyndale having finished his translation of the pentateuch, in- 
tended to put it to the press at Hamburgh, but was wrecked on 
his passage, where he lost all his papers and money, and had 
therefore to begin the work afresh; but found, at Hamburgh, 
his friend Coverdale, who waited for his arrival, and assisted 
him in writing a new translation. Tyndale and Coverdale 
finished and published a translation of the whole bible in 1535, 
the first ever printed in the English language. 

This first publication of the bible roused the indignation of 
the prelates, who complained to the king; and his majesty, in 
compliance with their suggestions, ordered the copies to be called 
in, and promised them a new translation; and when the trans- 
lation, in 1537, called Coverdale's, came forth, the bishops com- 
plained to Henry that it contained a great many faults. His 
majesty asked whether it contained any heresies; they replied 
that they found none. Then, in the name of God, said the 
king, let it go forth amongst the people. 

Conscious of the mischief that Coverdale had already done to 
the cause of Rome, and from his great activity and industry was 
still capable of effecting, he was most severely persecuted by 
the prelates, who hunted him from place to place, so that he 
was forced, for many years, to remain an exile from his native 
land; nor could the Netherlands afford him complete security 
from their implacable resentment. To escape their powerful 
influence, he retired to Germany, where, upon his first settle- 
ment, he was obliged to teach children for a subsistence. After 
he had acquired the Dutch language, the prince Elector Pa- 
latine conferred upon him the benefice of Burgh saber; and 
his faithful ministry, and exemplary conversation, were made a 
blessing to the people. During his residence in this place, he 
was subsisted partly by his benefice, and partly by lord Crom- 
well, his kind and liberal patron and benefactor. 



214 MEMOIR OF 

Upon the accession of Edward VI., the prison doors were 
thrown open to the reformers; and those who had been driven 
into exile returned home; amongst the last of whom was Dr. 
Coverdale. Some short time after his return, he became chap- 
lain to lord Russell, in his expedition to suppress an insurrec- 
tion in Devonshire; and the lamentable state of the diocese of 
Exeter, owing to the late insurrection, and the prevalence of 
popery, required some wise, courageous, and excellent preacher 
to restore order and tranquillity, and Coverdale was considered 
a proper person to fill that distracted see. Cranmer, who was 
intimately acquainted with him, had the highest opinion of his 
talents and integrity, and was always ready to do him acts of 
kindness; and, on this occasion, performed the ceremony of his 
consecration at Lambeth, he having received the king's letter 
patent for that purpose. Though Coverdale had submitted, 
under the late reign, to wear the habits, he had now, with 
many other celebrated divines, laid them aside. 

This excellent divine, while bishop of Exeter, conducted him- 
self with all that gravity and primitive simplicity which became 
his high ofiice. He was a constant preacher, given to hospitality, 
sober, and temperate, hating covetousness, and every species of 
vice. His house was a little church, wherein were exercised all 
virtue and godliness. He was not, however, without his ene- 
mies, who endeavoured to have him disgraced, sometimes by 
backbiting, and sometimes by false accusation; at last they en- 
deavoured to poison him; but, by the watchful providence of 
God, the snare was broken, and he escaped. Coverdale had 
been only between two and three years in his episcopal ofiice, 
when the death of king Edward made room for his sister, prin- 
cess Mary, which soon changed the whole face of religion; and 
vast numbers of the most worthy preachers in the kingdom 
were silenced, and this good bishop, with many others, cast 
into prison *. 

During the confinement of Coverdale, and the other protes- 
tant bishops and clergymen, they drew up and subscribed a 
short confession of their faith; a copy of which has been pre- 
served, but too long for inserting in this work. The malice of 
the papists had marked out Coverdale for the flames; but he 
was delivered from their rage by a wonderful interposition of 
divine providence. During his imprisonment, the king of 
Denmark, with whom lie became acquainted when in Ger- 
many, acted the part of a faithful friend in this interesting 
crisis of his fate; and after several pressing solicitations to the 

* The archbishops of Canterbury and York, Cranmer and Holgate, with the 
bishops Ridley, Poinet, Scory, Coverdale, Taylor, Hervey, Bird, Bush, Hooper, 
Ferrar, and Barlow, with twelve thousand clergymen, were all silenced at this time, 
and many of them committed to prison.— Burnet's History of the Reformation. 



MILES COVERDALE* 215 

queen, his release was granted as a very particular favour. He 
was, accordingly, permitted to go again into exile. He retired 
first to his friend, the king of Denmark, then to Westphalia, 
and afterwards to his worthy patron, the elector of the Rhine, 
who received him with hearty hospitality, and restored him to 
his former benefice of Burghsaber, where he exercised the pas- 
toral office with laborious zeal, and watchful attention to his 
flock, all the remaining days of queen Mary. 

Coverdale, Goodman, Gilby, Whittingham, Samson, Cole, 
Knox, Badleigh, and Pullam, all celebrated puritans, during 
their exile at this time, made a new translation of the bible, 
which went under the appellation of the Geneva bible. They 
first published the New Testament in 1557, the first that had 
ever been published with numerical verses; and the whole bible, 
with marginal notes, was printed in 1560, and dedicated to 
queen Elizabeth. The translators aver that they were employ- 
ed in the work, with fear and trembling, night and day, and 
call God to witness, that in every point and word they have 
faithfully rendered the text to the best of their knowledge : But 
the marginal notes having given some offence, the work was 
not permitted to be printed in England during the life of arch- 
bishop Parker. It was afterwards printed in 1576, and went 
through twenty or thirty editions in a short time. It was long 
after printed under the name of the reformer's bible. 

With a view to the total suppression of the reformation, 
queen Mary, amid the rage of her persecution, and to cover the 
frauds, superstitions, and impositions of the popish religion, 
which shrunk from the light and truth of the scriptures, the 
English bible was burnt by public authority, and a royal pro- 
clamation issued, prohibiting the people to read the books of 
the reformers; and amongst the various works enumerated in 
this proclamation, were those of Luther, Calvin, Latimer, 
Hooper, Cranmer, and Coverdale. 

Soon after the accession of queen Elizabeth, Coverdale re- 
turned to his native country. His bishoprick was reserved for 
him, and he repeatedly urged to accept of it; but, owing to the 
popish habits, and other ceremonies retained in the church, he 
modestly refused, and was, on account of his scrupulosity, for 
some time neglected, till bishop Grindal suggested the impro- 
priety of leaving bishop Coverdale in poverty and destitution 
in his old age, and gave him the benefice of St. Magnus at 
Bridgefoot. But Coverdale, old, long persecuted, and conse- 
quently poor, was unable to pay the first-fruits, amounting to 
more than sixty pounds, petitioned secretary Cecil to excuse him, 
adding, " If poor old Miles can thus be provided for, he will 
think it enough, and as good as a feast." The request was 



216 MEMOIR OF 

granted, and Cover dale continued in the undisturbed exercise 
of his ministry something more than two years; but not com- 
ing up to the standard of conformity, he was driven from his 
charge, and obliged to relinquish his benefice. Laden with age 
and infirmities as he was, he did not, with his benefice, relin- 
quish his beloved work, but still continued preaching, without 
the habits, when and wherever he could find an opportunity, 
and great multitudes attended his sermons. The people used 
to send to his house on a Saturday to learn where he was to 
preach on the Sabbath following, and were sure to follow him 
whatever might be the distance. This, however, was too much 
to be overlooked by the ruling ecclesiastics. This good old ve- 
teran in the cause of Christ, was at last obliged to tell his 
friends that he durst no longer inform them where or when he 
should preach, lest he should put it out of his power to be of 
any farther usefulness in the church of Christ. He continued, 
however, to preach wherever he could find an opportunity, till 
his great age, and the infirmities incident to that state, rendered 
him utterly unfit for the task, and soon after departed this 
theatre of sin, sorrow, and suffering; and having fought a good 
fight in defence of the faith once delivered to the saints, he 
finished his course in a most comfortable and happy death, 
January 20th, 1568, aged eighty-one years. 

He was a man of the most exemplary life and conversation, 
pious towards God, and benevolent towards men, even his op- 
pressors and persecutors. A student of indefatigable industry; a 
scholar who had a place in the first rank of literature; a preacher 
equal to, if not exceeding, any of his time; a modesty peaceable, 
and forbearing non-conformist, and much admired and followed 
by the puritans. But queen Elizabeth's cruel act of uniformity 
brought his grey hairs, with sorrow, to the grave. His funeral 
procession was attended with immense crowds of the people; 
and his mortal remains were honourably interred in the chan- 
cel of Bartholomew's church, behind the exchange, London, 
where a monumental inscription was afterwards erected to his 
memory. 

His works are, 1st, The Christian Rule. — 2d, The Christian 
State of Matrimony. — 3d, A Christian Exhortation to Common 
or Profane Swearers. — 4th, The Manner of Saving Grace ac- 
cording to the Scriptures. — 5th, The Old Faith, or an evident 
proof from Scripture, that the right, true, old, and undoubted 
faith of Christians, has been a persecuted and suffering faith 
ever since the beginning of the world. — 6th, A Faithful and 
True Prognostication for the jear 1449, and for ever after to 
the end of the world, gathered from the prophecies and scrip- 
tures of God, and his operations in governing the world, very 



DAVID WHITEHEAD. %IJ 

comfortable to all christian hearts. — 7th, A Spiritual Almanack, 
wherein every christian man and woman may see what they 
ought daily to do, and leave undone. — 8th, A Confutation of 
John Slandish. — 9th, A Discourse on the Holy Sacraments. — 
10th, A Concordance to the New Testament. — 11th, A Chris- 
tian Catechism. — 12th, Translations from Bullenger, Luther, 
and others. — The version of the psalms, in the book of Common 
Prayer, is taken from Coverdale's bible. 



DAVID WHITEHEAD, B. D. 

This very learned divine was greatly celebrated for piety 
and moderation; he was educated at Oxford, and afterwards 
became chaplain to queen Anne Boleyn. Archbishop Cranmer 
says concerning him, that he was endowed with great know- 
ledge, special honesty, fervent zeal, and political wisdom; in 
consideration whereof he recommended him as the fittest per- 
son for the office of archbishop of Armagh. This nomination, 
however, did not succeed. In the beginning of the bloody per- 
secution of queen Mary, Whitehead fled from the storm which 
began to rage around him; and retiring to Frankfort, became 
pastor to the English congregation, where he was had in high 
estimation by his expatriated companions. Here he answered 
the objections of Mr Home relative to church discipline, and 
gave evidence of singular prudence and moderation in his en- 
deavours to compose the difference amongst his brethren. 

When Elizabeth mounted the throne, Mr Whitehead came 
home. The same year, he was appointed, along with doctors 
Parker, Bell, May, Cox, ,Grindal, Pilkington, and Sir Thomas 
Smith, to review king Edward's liturgy. In 1559 he was ap- 
pointed one of the public disputants against the popish bishops, 
with Dr. Story, bishop of Chichester, Dr. Cox, Mr Grindal, 
Mr Home, Mr Sandys, Mr Gest, Mr Aylmer, and Mr Jewel, 
most or all of whom afterwards became bishops. On this oc- 
casion Mr Whitehead had a fine opportunity of displaying his 
theological talents, and he discovered such a depth of erudition, 
and so much moderation, that the queen offered him the arch- 
bisboprick of Canterbury. The mastership of the Savoy he might 
have had, at the same time, without any subscription; but he 
declined both, excusing himself to the queen, by telling her, 
that he could live plentifully by preaching the gospel without, 
any preferment whatever. Thus, while many were scrambling 
for ecclesiastical dignities, Whitehead was well content with 
deserving them. Accordingly, he went up and dov i like an 

8 2 e 



£18 _ MEMOIR OF 

apostle, preaching the gospel where he considered it was most 
wanted, and spent his life in celebacy ; which gained him much 
favour with the queen, who was ever averse to the marriage of 
clergymen. Mr Whitehead waiting one day on the queen, 
her majesty said to him, " I like thee the better, Whitehead, he- 
cause thou livest unmarried." " In troth, madam (he replied), 
I like thee the worse for the same cause." 

In 1564 Mr Whitehead suffered the fate of other puritan 
divines, in being cited before the ecclesiastic commissioners, 
and suffered deprivation for his non-conformity; but how long 
does not appear; for though he was much esteemed by the 
queen, he was no favourite of the ruling ecclesiastics, being 
inimical to their mode of government. During the time of his 
deprivation it is thought he had joined himself to those other 
non-conforming divines, who presented a paper to archbishop 
Parker, containing their reasons for rejecting the church ap- 
parel. He died in 1571, and left behind him the reputation of 
being a man of excellent learning, a deep divine, and a rare ex- 
ample of moderation and self-denial. It has been observed of 
Coverdale, Turner, and Whitehead, that from their mouths 
and pens most of Elizabeth's divines had first received the 
light of the gospel. 



RICHARD TRAVENER. 

This highly distinguished individual was born at Brisley 
in Norfolk, 1505, and educated first at Rennet college, Cam- 
bridge, and afterwards in the university of Oxford. Here the 
famous cardinal Wolsey having founded a new college, he fur- 
nished it with the best scholars in the country; among whom 
were Mr Travener, Tyndale, Frith, and Goodman, with many 
others of similar sentiments. They were men of excellent 
learning, gravity, and profound judgment; and Travener was, 
besides, renowned for his knowledge in the science of music. 
These men, frequently conversing together about the state of 
the church, with occasional remarks on her abounding super- 
stitions and deplorable corruptions, were accused to the car- 
dinal, and shut up in a deep cell under the college, where salt 
fish were wont to be deposited, and where the filthiness and in- 
fection of the place cost several of them their lives. Mr Tra- 
vener, however, escaped the fatal distemper; and though he was 
accused of having hid Mr Clark's books under the boards of his 
school, the cardinal released him in consideration of his musi- 
cal genius. He was an excellent Greek scholar, and much 



RICHARD TRAVENER. 219 

admired for his knowledge both in philosophy and divinity. 
About this time, he either removed or was expelled from the 
university, and became a student at the inns of court; and when 
reading any thing in the law, he always made his quotations in 
Greek. 

In 1534 he was taken under the patronage of Cromwell, 
principal secretary to Henry VIII., by whose recommendation 
he was made one of the clerks to the signet; which place he 
held till the accession of Mary, having been held in much 
esteem by Henry, Edward, Somerset the protector, and his 
patron the lord Cromwell. In 1539 he published a correction 
of the translation of the bible, after the best examples, which, 
was dedicated to the king, printed in folio, and allowed to be 
read in the churches; but after the fall of Cromwell, in 1510, 
the printers of the English bible were committed to prison, and 
punished at the instigation of the bishops; and Travener, as a 
reward for his labours, was sent to the tower. Here, however, 
he continued but a short time; for having satisfactorily ac- 
quitted himself before his judges, he was released, and restored 
to his place, and continued in the favour of the king to the end 
of his life. About this time he was a member of parliament, 
and much esteemed by all men of piety and worth. In 1545 
king Henry made a speech in parliament, wherein he exhorted 
the members to charity, unity, and concord, and Travener em- 
braced the occasion to publish a translation of Erasmus', in- 
titled, An Introduction to Christian Concord and Unity in 
matters of religion. In 1552 Mr Travener obtained a special 
or general licence, subscribed by king Edward, to preach in any 
part of his dominions, notwithstanding that he had never been 
ordained; and, availing himself of this particular privilege, he 
preached from place to place throughout the kingdom, some- 
times before the king, and at other public places, wearing a 
velvet bonnet, a damask gown, and a chain of gold about his 
neck. When queen Mary came to the throne, Travener retired 
to his country house, called Norbiton-hall in Surry, where he 
remained till the accession of Elizabeth, to whom he presented 
a congratulatory epistle in Latin; for which she exceedingly re- 
spected him, placed great confidence in his fidelity, and put him 
into the commission of the peace for the county of Oxford, 
where important concerns were entrusted to his management, 
till 1549, when he was made sheriff of the county. His eleva- 
tion, and the authority with which he was now invested, did 
not induce him to relinquish his ministerial labours whenever 
he found an opportunity. Even while high sheriff of Oxford 
county, he appeared in the pulpit of St. Mary's church, with 
his gold chain abcnt his neck, and the sword by his side, and 



c 2°20 MEMOIR OF 

preached to the scholars. On this occasion he introduced his 
sermon in terms, which, however popular at that period, sa- 
vours too much of rant for modern ears. " Having arrived (says 
Travener), at the mount of Saint Mary's, in the stony stage 
where I now stand, I have brought you some fine biscuits baked 
in the oven of charity, and carefully conserved for the chickens 
of the church, the sparrows of the spirit, and the sweet swal- 
lows of salvation." A similar mode of preaching seems to have 
been fashionable in that age. This celebrated reformer, and 
zealous puritan, died at his manor-house, at Wood-eaton, in 
Oxfordshire, July 14th, 1575, aged seventy years. His remains 
were interred, with great funeral solemnity, in the chancel of 
the church at that place. He left several works behind him, 
particularly the Psalms of David, reduced to a form of prayers 
and meditations, with certain other godly orisons, &c. &c. 



WILLIAM WHITTINGHAM. 

This resolute non-conformist was born in Chester, 1524, 
and had his education in Brazen-nose college, Oxford. In 1545 
he became fellow of All-souls; and afterwards, being considered 
one of the best scholars in the university, he was translated to 
Christ-church, then founded by Henry VIII. In 1550 he went 
on his travels, and made the tour of Germany, France, and 
Italy, returning to England about the close of Edward's reign; 
but being soon after forced, by the bloody persecution of the 
following reign, to flee for his life, he retired to Frankfort, and 
settled among the English exiles in that place. He was the first 
who took charge of the English congregation; but afterward 
resigned it to Mr John Knox. Whittingham and his associates 
having comfortably settled their church at Frankfort, invited 
their brother exiles, who had taken refuge in other places, to 
join them, and share their comforts; but the arrival of Dr. Cox 
and his friends utterly marred their harmony? and introduced 
such discord, wrangling, and bitter contention, that many of 
them were obliged, soon after, to look out a more eligible asy- 
lum. Cox and his party were strenuous adherents to the 
English establishment under Edward VI.; and, on their arrival 
at Frankfort, began to break through the simple order that had 
been so harmoniously agreed upon by the English congregation. 
Some of this imperious party having, without the consent or 
knowledge of the congregation, taken possession of the pulpit, 
read the English litany, and Cox and the rest of his friends 
answered aloud, by which the original determination of the 



WILLIAM WHITTINGHAM. 221 

congregation was broken through. Mr Whittingham, under 
these circumstances, publicly expressed his opinion, that Dr. 
Cox and his friends, having usurped a power incompatible with 
the rules originally laid down for the governing of the congre- 
gation, he held it lawful for himself, and all who adhered to the 
original constitution of the congregation, to withdraw, and join 
some other church more congenial to their views. But Cox 
was anxious to prevent them, declaring that they ought not to 
be allowed. Whittingham considered it both cruel and tyran- 
nical to force men, against their consciences, to acquiesce with 
all their disorderly proceedings, and challenged the whole party 
to dispute the matter before the magistrates; and when this 
could not be obtained, as a last effort towards a reconciliation, 
he proposed to refer the whole concern to four arbitrators, two 
on each side, to determine with whom the fault lay, that they 
might vindicate themselves from the charge of schism : but this 
offer was also rejected, and Whittingham removed to Geneva, 
where he was invited to become pastor to the English church 
in that place. After some hesitation, by the persuasion of John 
Calvin he accepted the offer, and was ordained by the laying 
on of the hands of the presbytery. During his abode at Gene- 
va, he was employed, together with several other learned di- 
vines, in translating the bible, which was afterward called the 
Geneva translation; a particular account of which is given in 
another place. On the accession of Elizabeth, Whittingham 
returned to England, and was appointed to accompany the earl 
of Bedford on his diplomatic mission to the French court. After 
his return, he accompanied the earl of Warwick while charged 
with the defence of Newhaven. There he was, for some time, a 
preacher; and though attentive to his ministerial function, he dis- 
suaded his hearers from conforming to the ceremonies of the Eng- 
lish church. Warwick had such a respect for him, both as a man 
and a minister of the gospel, that he persuaded the queen to 
prefer him to the deanery of Durham. 

As a preacher he was highly popular, and preached before 
the queen in September 1563. During this year the dignita- 
ries of the church began to urge a conformity to the clerical 
habits with more intolerant vigour than they had yet done; on 
which occasion Mr Whittingham wrote a most pressing letter 
to the earl of Leicester, entreating him to use his best endea- 
vours to prevent such an unnecessary and grievous calamity. 
In this letter he expresses himself with considerable freedom. 
" I understand (says he), it is at last resolved upon that we shall 
be compelled, contrary to our consciences, either to wear the 
popish apparel, or be deprived of our ministry and our livings ; 
and considering the importance of the charge which almighty 



222 MEMOIR OF 

God has given us, with respect to the faithful dispensation of 
his sacred ordinances, and the strict account of our steward- 
ship which we must one day render to him, I cannot, for a 
moment, douht which alternative to choose. He that would 
prove these fragments of popery to be matters of mere indiffer- 
ence, and consequently such as may be imposed upon the church 
by the ipse dixit of the supreme magistrate, ought first to prove 
that such things tend to the glory of God, that they are agree- 
able to his word of truth, that they promote the edification of 
his church, and that they correspond with that liberty of con- 
science wherewith Christ hath made his people free. For if the 
wearing of these remnants of antichrist be calculated to produce 
the very opposite effects, then, in place of being matters of indif- 
ference, they become objects of awful importance, and fraught 
with the most alarming consequences to the church. For how 
can the glory of God, the edification of the church, or christian 
liberty, be promoted by the use of those garments that the ene- 
mies of Christ have invented to ornament a system of idolatry, 
which God has everywhere denounced in his unerring revela- 
tion ? What agreement can exist between the superstitious in- 
ventions of men, and the pure word of the holy Lord God ? 
What edification can proceed from a system, by which the spirit 
of God is grieved, the children of God discouraged and dis- 
countenanced, papists confirmed in their absurdities, and the 
flood gates of every Romish abomination thrown open, once 
more, to deluge the country with ignorance, immorality, and 
bondage, which neither we nor our fathers were, or ever will 
be, able to bear ? 

" Your lordship will easily perceive, that to use the ornaments 
and manners of the wicked, is to approve their doctrines, and 
patronize their impiety. The ancient fathers, with one consent, 
acknowledge, that all agreement with idolatry, in place of be- 
ing indifferent, is absolutely and exceedingly pernicious. We 
are told, however, that the use of the garments is not intended 
to countenance popery, but for good policy; but who can ima- 
gine that policy good which decks the spouse of Christ in the 
meritricious robes of the Babjdonish strumpet. God would not 
permit his people of old to retain any part of the manners of 
the idolatrous nations for the sake of policy, but commanded 
that all the appurtinances of idolatry and superstition should be 
destroyed. Likewise our Saviour, in the time of the gospel, 
was so far from thinking it good policy, either to wear the 
pharisaical robes himself, or recommend them to his disciples, 
that he condemned them as hypocritically superstitious. We 
find that Jeroboam maintained his idolatrous calves at Dan and 
Bethel under the pretence of policy; and the true worshippers 



WILLIAM WHITTINGHAM. £23 

bf God, at this day, have much cause of fear and trembling, 
when they see these relics of antichrist set forth under the self- 
same pretence. For if policy be once admitted as a clock to 
screen these limbs of antichrist, why may not policy also serve 
to cover the enormous bulk of that mass of abominable corrup- 
tion ? and then farewell the simplicity of truth, farewell its pu- 
rity, power, and spirituality. And what remains to be substi- 
tuted in their room ? Assuredly nothing but crowns and crosiers, 
oil and cream, images and candles, palms and beads, with an 
endless catalogue of such trumpery as decorates the harlot drunk 
with the blood of the saints ! 

" Your lordship will perceive how deplorable our case must be, 
and how unequally we have been dealt with, if such severities 
be exercised against us, while so many papists enjoy their liber- 
ty and livings, who have neither sworn obedience to the queen's 
majesty, nor discharged their duty to their miserable flocks, 
These men triumph over us, and laugh to see us so unworthily 
treated; nay, they even boast, that the portion of popery still 
retained in the church, is an earnest that the full harvest shall 
be forth-coming in due time. My noble lord, pity the oppress- 
ed, the persecuted, and disconsolate church of Christ; hear the 
groanings of the children of God, thirsting for the water, and 
starving for want of the bread of life. 

" I need not appeal to the word of God, or the history of the 
primitive church, your lordship can judge between us and our 
enemies; and if we only seek the glory of God, the edification 
of his people, and that liberty which appertains to us both as 
peaceable and loyal subjects to her majesty, and worshippers of 
the only true God, pity our case, I beseech you, and use your 
utmost endeavours to secure to us so reasonable a request." 

What effect this generous letter produced, we have no means 
of ascertaining. Mr Whittingham was well known at court 
for a man of excellent character and admirable abilities, and 
secretary Cecil being made lord treasurer, he was nominated for 
the secretary's place, and might have obtained it if he had made 
interest with his noble friend the earl of Leicester; but having 
no anxiety for court preferment, he put himself to no trouble 
about the matter. It is said that Whittingham withstood the 
order of conformity for some time, but afterwards subscribed; 
but so long as Grindal lived, who, towards the close of his life, 
connived at the puritans, Whittingham and his brethren, in the 
province of York, were not much molested on the score of non- 
conformity. E«:it Dr. Sandys was no sooner made archbishop 
than he was brought into troubles, from which the stroke of 
death alone could deliver him. In 1577 the new archbishop 
resolved to visit the whole of his province, and began with 



224 MEMOIR OF 

Durham, where Whittingham had obtained a distinguished re- 
putation. He had been ordained at Geneva according to the 
rules and ceremonies of that church. The charges brought 
against him contained thirty-five articles; but the principal 
charge was his not being ordained in conformity to the English 
service-book. Whittingham refused to answer to the charge, 
and stood by the rites of the church of Durham, denying his 
authority to visit that church; upon which he was excommuni- 
cated. Whittingham appealed to the queen, who appointed a 
commission to investigate the matter, hear and determine the 
validity of his ordination, and inquire into the other misde- 
meanours. Henry, earl of Huntington, lord president of the 
north, and Dr. Hutton, dean of York, were appointed for this 
service. The earl was friendly to the puritans, and Dr. Hut- 
ton was somewhat allied to the principles of Whittingham, and 
boldly declared that he was ordained in a better manner than 
even the archbishop himself; so the matter rested as it was be- 
fore. The archbishop, enraged to be thus defeated, obtained 
another commission, directed to himself, the bishop of Durham, 
the lord president, the chancellor of the diocese, and some 
others on whom he could rely, to visit the church of Durham, 
and the design was to deprive him, as a mere layman, in con- 
sequence of his foreign ordination : But Whittingham produced, 
before the commission, a certificate, under the hands of eight 
persons, setting forth the manner of his ordination, in these 
words : " It pleased God, by the sufFerages of the whole congre- 
gation at Geneva, orderly to choose Mr W. Whittingham unto 
the office of preaching the word of God, and ministering the 
sacraments; and he was admitted minister, and so published 
with such other ceremonies as are there used and accustomed." 
It was then objected, that the certificate made no mention of 
bishops or superintendents, nor of any external solemnities, nor 
even of the imposition of hands. But Whittingham offered to 
prove his vocation to be the same as that of ail other ministers 
at Geneva; and the president said, I cannot, in conscience, 
agree to deprive him for that cause alone, which, added he, 
would be ill taken by all the godly and learned, both abroad and 
at home, that we suffer popish massing priests in our ministry, 
while we disallow of ministers ordained in a reformed church. 
The commission was therefore adjourned, and never again re- 
newed. 

The archbishop's procedure was obviously invidious, and 
sunk his reputation both in town and country; and the Oxford 
historian says, that Whittingham did essential service to his 
country, not only in opposing the popish rebels in the north, 
but also in repelling the archbishop of York from visiting the 



WILLIAM WHrTTINGHAM. 225 

church of Durham; yet he denominates him a luke-warm con- 
formist, an enemy to the hahits and ceremonies of his own 
church, while an active promoter of the Geneva doctrine and 
discipline, and brings many serious charges against him for 
works of impiety. Some of which are the following : 1st, That 
he caused several stone coffins, belonging to the priors, and 
laid aside in the cathedral of Durham, to be taken up and used for 
troughs for horses and swine, and applied their covers to the 
paving of his own floors. 2d, That he defaced all the brazen 
pictures and imagery work, and used the stones in building a 
washing-house for himself. 3d, That he took away the two 
holy zvater stones, of fine marble, very artificially engraven, 
with hollow bosses, curiously wrought, and employed them in 
'steeping beef and salt fish. 4th, That he caused the image of 
St. Cuthbert, and other ancient monuments, to be defaced. 
The truth is, Mr Whittingham could never endure any thing 
belonging to a monastic life. How far this weighty charge is 
correct we know not ; and supposing it literally true, how far he 
was censurable for these enormous impieties the reader will de- 
termine for himself. His enemies have endeavoured to reproach 
his memory. With this obvious intent Dr. Boncraft says, that 
Whittingham, and the rest of his Geneva accomplices, urged 
all states to take up arms and reform themselves, rather than 
suffer such idolatry and superstition. He has, nevertheless, 
obtained, from all impartial men, the noble character of a truly 
pious man, opposed to all superstition, an excellent preacher, 
and an ornament to religion and learning. He died while the 
validity of his Geneva ordination was still depending before the 
queen's commission, June 10th, 1579, in the sixty-fifth year of 
liis age. 

Mr Whittingham wrote prefaces to several learned works, 
as God man's book on the Obedience due to the civil Magis- 
trate, &c. He also published several translations, and turned 
part of the Psalms of David into metre, which are still used 
in the church of England. His part of the work is marked 
W. W. amongst which we find psalm 119, as may be seen 
in the Common Prayer Book. Thomas Sternhold, John Hop- 
kins, and Thomas Norton, were engaged in the rest of this 
service. 



BERNARD GILPIN, B. D. 

This extraordinary individual was born of an ancient and 
honourable family at Kentmire in Westmoreland, in the year 
9 2 f 



226 MEMOIR OF 

15 IT, and edueated in queen's college, Oxford. Here he studied 
with persevering ardour; and the proficiency he acquired cor- 
responded with his great exertions. Having set his heart on 
the study of divinity, he made the scriptures his principal rule 
and director; and that he might the better acquaint himself 
with their sacred import, he was anxious to improve himself in 
the knowledge of the Greek and Hebrew languages. His in- 
dustry soon procured him the character of a young man of ex- 
cellent parts and considerable learning; while the mildness of 
his disposition, and the elegance of his manners, procured him 
the love and esteem of all his acquaintances and associates. 
He took his degrees in arts at the usual time, and was elected 
fellow of the college. His reputation was even such, that he 
was selected by cardinal Wolsey to supply his new founded col- 
lege. Gilpin, brought up in the popish religion, still continued 
an adherent to that superstition, in defence of which he held a 
disputation with John Hooper, afterwards bishop of Worcester. 
But after the accession of king Edward, Peter Martyr having 
been sent to Oxford, delivered public lectures on divinity in a 
strain to which that university had been little accustomed. He 
attacked the Romish superstition with such energy, that the 
popish party became alarmed, and consequently united in the 
defence of their tottering edifice. The celebrity of Mr Gilpin's 
character in the university, induced the popish party to solicit, 
with the most pressing anxiety, his assistance in defending 
the church from the audacious attempts of her reforming an- 
tagonists; but found his zeal in this particular less fervent than 
their own. He had never been a bigotted papist, nor had he 
ever an opportunity of informing himself thoroughly concern- 
ing the doctrines of the reformers; only, in his dispute with 
Hooper, he had discovered that many of the tenets, held by the 
Romish church, were not so well supported by scripture as he 
had imagined. Under these circumstances, he hung in a sort 
of doubtful suspense, and considered himself but ill-qualified to 
defend either side in a public disputation. His inclination was 
rather to stand by, as an unprejudiced, but attentive observer, 
ready to embrace the truth wherever it made its appearance. 
To the pressing importunities of his friends, however, at last 
he gave way, and on the following day made his public appear- 
ance against Peter Martyr. 

Thus drawn into the controversy, rather against his inclina- 
tion, Mr Gilpin was resolved to bring his old opinions to the 
test, and see how far they could be supported by the sacred 
oracles, that he might learn whether they were grounded on truth, 
or that he had hitherto been involved in error. For this pur- 
pose, he had resolved to forego all shifting and cavilling, and fol- 



BERNARD GILPIN. QTjf 

low the truth, from which he was determined no consideration 
on earth should make him swerve. The disputation having 
commenced, he soon found that the arguments of his adversary, 
enforced by the sacred authority of scripture, were too strong 
for him; nor could he help acknowledging that they were of a 
very different nature and complexion from the fine spun argu- 
ments, and forced interpretations, in which he had hitherto ac- 
quiesced. The disputation of consequence was soon over; Mr 
Gilpin had too much honesty to defend suspected opinions, and 
publicly acknowledged that he could not maintain what he had 
undertaken to defend, and that he would enter no more into 
disputation till he had gained a full information of the merits 
of the controversy; which it was his greatest anxiety to obtain. 

His mind, thus shaken by the arguments of his antagonist, 
his first step was to commit their substance to paper, 
and examine the points in dispute, particularly those on 
which he had been the hardest pressed. At the same time, he 
began, and proceeded, with singular assiduity, in examining the 
scriptures and the writings of the fathers wherever they bore on 
these controverted opinions. The consequence was, a thorough 
conviction, that many grievous abuses, and scandalous corrup- 
tions, existed in the Roman church, which it was desirable to 
have reformed. 

Mr Gilpin was urged, by his friends, to leave the university; 
but he had too just an opinion of the ministerial work to rush 
into it without proper qualifications. He considered more 
learning than he had then attained indispensably necessary, 
particularly in an age of controversy; and that protestanism 
could not suffer more from its open enemies, than it was sure 
to do from the rawness and inexperience of its teachers. 
These considerations detained him at Oxford till the thirty- 
fifth year of his age, when he was presented to the vicarage of 
Norton, in the diocese of Durham, 1552; but, in the meantime, 
he was appointed to preach before king Edward at Greenwich. 
Mr Gilpin had resolved to improve so fair an opportunity of 
publicly reproving the avarice and scandalous corruptions of the 
times, and had accordingly arranged his discourse for that pur-' 
pose. He introduced his sermon with a sharp attack on the 
clergy. " He was sorry (he said) to observe amongst them 
such shameful negligence, and manifest indifference, in dis- 
charging the duties of their office — Duties of the first import- 
ance to the people, whether they were considered as individu- 
als, or as branches of the community; whether these duties re- 
garded their soul or their bodies, their happiness here or hereafter*. 
Duties, the conscientious discharge of which would one day be 
rewarded with the approving smile, and the honourable declara= 



c 2%8 MEMOIR OF 

tion of, * Well done, good and faithful servants, from him in 
whose favour is life :' Duties, moreover, the neglect of which 
must unavoidably subject unfaithful delinquents to the most 
awful responsibility. Their bustling anxiety, care and ambi- 
tion, is to get possession of as many livings as can be obtained, 
and at the same time to perform none, or almost none, of the 
duties required. One-half of them are pluralists and non-resi- 
dents; in either case, how is it possible that these most import- 
ant, these most responsible duties can be performed; and what 
a lamentable consideration must it be, to see the inhabitants of 
whole districts thus perishing for lack of knowledge, while their 
instructors are far off, or lolling in indolence and luxurious 
ease ?• Should not the shepherd feed the flock ? But what, if 
possible, is still more insufferably disgusting, is to see these 
same pluralists, these pleasure-hunting non-residents, defend- 
ing their criminality, by quoting the laws of men in direct op- 
position to the laws of God: For if any such laws exist, they 
must be remnants of popery, and ought therefore to be repealed, 
that these negligent and woolfish shepherds may no longer have 
it in their power to plead so miserable and unworthy excuses; 
for so long as men's consciences will permit them to hold as 
many livings as they can possibly attain, and perform none of 
the duties thence arising, it is vain to look for the peaceable 
fruits of righteousness amongst their wandering and neglected 
flocks." 

From the clergy he turned to the court, and observing that 
the king was not present, he was under the necessity of intro- 
ducing that part of his sermon, by expressing his sorrow, that 
those, who, for example's sake, ought to have been present, had 
absented themselves. " Business (he said) might perhaps be pled 
as an excuse, though, for his own part, he could not conceive 
how the service of God could hinder any part of the ordinary 
business of life; and if his voice could reach their ears, he should 
willingly make them hear, even in their chambers; but that 
being impossible, he was determined they should hear him by 
proxy; and having no doubt but what he said would be told 
them, he would take the liberty of addressing their seats." 
" Great prince (said he), you are appointed by God to rule 
and govern this land, permit me then to call upon you in behalf 
of your injured and much-neglected people : You have it in 
your power to redress their grievances, and these are mauy. 
All dispensations for pluralites and non-residence ought to be 
withdrawn, and every pastor permitted to hold one benefice, and 
one only; and, as far as possible, every clergyman ought to be 
obliged to do his duty, or give place to others who will do so 
with conscientious alacrity. A glance of your grace's eye over 



BERNARD GILPIN. £29 

the realm would be of more service than a thousand of these 
luke-warm and idle preachers that disgrace the pastoral roll of the 
country, and must continue that disgrace so long as the nobility 
and patrons of the church are permitted to make merchandise 
of the gospel, by disposing of their livings, without regard to 
character or qualification, providing they can obtain the highest 
remunerating terms. These evils ought to be removed; and 
were your grace to send out surveyors to see the shameful man- 
ner in which benefices are bestowed, their report could not fail 
to convince you of the necessity of correcting them without 
loss of time. And I must tell your grace, that all these evils 
will be laid to your charge, unless you exert the authority with 
which you are invested, to remove or amend them. For my 
part, I have resolved to do my duty, in apprising your grace of 
the corruptions and abuses that everywhere prevail in the 
church; and I pray God to direct your heart to regulate and 
amend them." 

In addressing the nobility and magistrates, he told them : 
" That having received all their powers, their honours, and autho- 
rity from God, he expected they would exercise them for the 
purposes for which they had been bestowed : That they would 
demean themselves as patrons of virtue and discouragers of vice, 
a terror to evil-doers, and a praise to them that do well : That 
from the ambitious strivings for these carnal things, which he had 
observed at court, he was afraid that they were not considered 
in their true light : That the most careless observer might per- 
ceive, that a spirit of avarice, as well as of ambition, had crept 
in amongst them : That the country cried out against their extor- 
tions: — And that, when the poor came to London to seek for jus- 
tice and redress, the great men would not see them till their 
servants had first been bribed for that purpose. Oh ! said he, 
with what cheerful hearts, with what tranquil consciences, might 
noblemen retire to rest after a day spent in listening to the com- 
plaints, and redressing the wrongs of the poor; while their ne- 
gligence, in performing this honourable part of their duty, obliges 
injured poverty to search after justice amongst the lawyers, who 
quickly devour every thing they have. Then let me call 
upon you, who are magistrates, and put you in remembrance of 
a truth that merits your serious consideration, namely, that if 
you have a legitimate claim upon the people for obedience, they 
are equally entitled to your care and protection. The obliga- 
tion is reciprocal; and though it be true that they cannot so 
easily enforce their claim, yet, know ye, that if you deny them 
that protection, God will assuredly espouse their cause against 
you. And now, if it be inquired from what fountain springs 
up all these bitter waters, what baneful root shoots forth all 



2S0 MEMOIR OF - 

these poisonous branches, I answer, avarice. It is this that 
makes the unworthy nobleman the tyrannical magistrate, the 
time-serving pastor, and the all-devouring lawyer." 

Having thus freely addressed his audience, he concluded 
his discourse, by exhorting all to consider these things; and that 
those who found themselves culpable, would seriously set about 
amending their lives. In this way Mr Gilpin commenced his 
ministerial labours. He considered himself, in some degree, 
chargeable with those vices, which, knowing their existence, 
he failed to rebuke. His plain-dealing, on this occasion, there- 
fore tended rather to recommend him to the notice of men of 
rank; and Sir William Cecil presented him with a general 
licence for preaching. Soon after this he took up his residence 
amongst his parishioners, and, with becoming seriousness, com- 
menced the duties of the pastoral office; and though he availed 
himself of his licence to preach occasionally in different parts of 
the country, he still considered that his own parish required the 
principal part of his labours. Though fully resolved against 
popery, as yet he had not discovered the doctrines of the refor- 
mation in their clearest light; and not being thoroughly settled 
in some of his religious opinions, he became diffident and un- 
easy in his mind. He thought he had engaged in the ministry 
before he was sufficiently qualified; and having, for a long time, 
been anxious to travel, that he might have an opportunity of 
conversing with learned men; and being advised by bishop 
Tonstal, his kinsman, to spend a year or two in Germany, 
France, or Holland, he resigned his living, and set out for Lon- 
don to receive his last advice from the bishop, and so embarked 
for the continent. Upon his arrival in Holland, he travelled to 
Mechlin to see, his brother George, who was prosecuting his 
studies in that place. Afterwards he went to Louvaiu, from 
which he made frequent excursions to Antwerp, Brussels, 
Ghent, and other places, where he usually spent a few weeks 
with persons of reputation, both papists and protestants. But 
Louvain, being accounted the best place for the study of divinity, 
was his principal residence. Here some of the most celebrated 
divines, on both sides of the question, resided, and the most im- 
portant points in divinity were frequently discussed with great 
freedom. 

Mr Gilpin's first business was to get himself introduced to 
men eminent for learning, to whom his pleasing address, and 
literary attainments, were no mean recommendation. He at- 
tended all public readings and disputations, committed every 
thing material to writing, re-examined all his opinions, propos- 
ed his doubts privately to his friends, and in every respect made 
a proper use of his time; by which means he soon attained a 



BERNARD GILPIN. 231 

more correct view of the protestant faith, saw things in a 
stronger light, and felt great satisfaction in his mind from the 
change he had made. After having spent three years on the 
continent, Mr Gilpin was fully satisfied with regard to his for- 
mer scruples, and firmly convinced of the propriety, as well as 
the necessity, of the reformation. Accordingly, in 1556, he re- 
turned to England, notwithstanding that the persecution was 
still raging with unabating severity. Bishop Tonstal received 
his kinsman with great kindness, and soon after his arrival 
presented him with the archdeaconry of Durham, to which the 
rectory of Easington was annexed. Mr Gilpin immediately 
repaired to his charge, and preached against the vices, the er- 
rors, and corruptions of the times, with uncommon boldness 
and conscientious severity, and by virtue of his office of arch- 
deacon, laboured incessantly to reform the manners of the cler- 
gy. But the freedom of his reproof, and the sharpness of his 
reprehensions, provoked the malice, and roused the indignation 
of many of his clerical delinquents, who exerted all their influ- 
ence and ingenuity to remove so troublesome an observer. 
With this view they found means to circulate their calumnies 
among the people, till it became a popular clamour, that he 
was an enemy to the church, a scandalizer of the clergy, a 
preacher of damnable heresies, and that if he was suffered to 
proceed in his mad career, religion would be totally unhinged 
by such doctrines as he was daily propagating. To realize their 
hopes of having him removed, a charge of heresy, consisting of 
thirteen articles, was drawn up, upon which he was accused in 
form before the bishop of Durham; but the bishop found means 
to protect his nephew from their malignity without endangering- 
himself. However, the malice of his enemies could not rest so 
long as he continued to expose their negligence and unbecom- 
ing deportment; and Gilpin, to be freed from their malevolence, 
resigned both his places. 

Soon after this he was presented to the rectory of Houghton 
le Spring. The living was valuable, but the duty was labori- 
ous. The parish contained fourteen villages, and the people 
had long been so destitute both of instruction and becoming ex- 
ample, that ignorance and superstition had nearly expelled 
every trace of genuine Christianity, and offered fair also to ex- 
tirpate reason and common sense. Nor could it be otherwise 
expected from the treatment they had received. Whether it 
was the effects of negligence or design it is difficult to ascer- 
tain; but certain it is, that the change of religion, which took 
place on the accession of king Edward, was not known in that 
parish or country-side at the death of that prince. Mr Gilpin 
was grieved to see ignorance and vice so lamentably prevalent, 



%S% MEMOIR Of 

but did not despair. He encouraged himself in the power and 
promise of God, and set about the strict performance of his du- 
ty. The people soon perceived that they had got a teacher very 
different from those they had formerly been accustomed to at- 
tend, and they crowded around him, and listened to his dis- 
courses with patience. 

Knowing the temper of the clergy, he was now more cautious 
than heretofore lest he should give them offence; more cautious 
indeed than he afterwards approved of, for he often taxed his 
behaviour, at this time, with weakness and cowardice. But his 
caution was of little or no avail, for his enemies accused him a 
second time before the bishop, who again found means to pro- 
tect him from their malice. From this time, however, his 
uncle's favour towards him began visibly to decline; and the 
better to evince his dislike of heresy, and the conduct of his 
nephew, he struck him out of his will, though he had made him 
his executor. The loss gave Mr Cjlpin very little uneasiness; 
he was sorry that the bishop should have been offended at what 
he considered the discharging of an imperious duty? and would 
have given up almost any thing to satisfy him but a good con- 
science, which he considered the best friend, and the most 
agreeable companion, and he had determined never to part with 
it to please any man, or body of men. 

In the meantime, his enemies were so enraged at their second 
failure, that they caused thirty-two articles to be exhibited 
against him before Bonner. At last they had got the right sow 
by the ear. Bonner, who was formed by nature for an inquisi- 
tor, extolled their laudable concern for religion, and promised 
them that he would have the heretic at the stake in a fortnight. 
Mr Gilpifl, who was well aware of the bishop's summary mode 
of despatch, received this information with great composure, 
and prepared himself for the worst. Laying his hand on the 
shoulder of a friend, he said, " They have prevailed against me 
at last. They have accused me to the bishop of London, from 
whom there is no escaping. God forgive their malice, and 
grant me strength to undergo the trial." Then calling his ser- 
vant, he ordered a long garment to be provided, in which he 
might make a decent appearance at the stake, and that it might 
be done immediately, as he knew not how soon he might have 
occasion for using it. Mr Gilpin had scarcely completed his 
arrangements when he was apprehended, and set off for London 
without the smallest hope of being again relieved from the 
malice of his enemies. In the course of his journey he had one 
of his legs broken, which unavoidably retarded his march. 
His conductors took occasion, from this misfortune, to retort 
upon him an expression which he had frequently made use of, 



BERNARD GILPIN. 233 

namely, " That nothing happens to men but what is intended 
for their good." And being asked, Whether he believed his 
broken leg was intended for his advantage ? He readily replied, 
that he had no reason to doubt it. Nor were his hopes disap- 
pointed, for before he was able to travel, queen Mary had finished 
her course of blood, and Mr Gilpin thus again escaped the 
snares of his enemies, and returned to Houghton, through crowds 
of the people, expressing the joy of their hearts, and their gra- 
titude to heaven for this singular interposition of divine provi- 
dence. His uncle, the bishop of Durham, died the following 
year; but the earl of Bedford recommended him to queen Eliz- 
abeth, who offered him the bishoprick of Carlisle; and the 
bishop of Worcester, his relation, urged him to accept of it; 
but no arguments could induce him to act contrary to his con- 
science. Dr. Heylin insinuates, that Gilpin's scruples, on this 
point, would have evanished, might he have had the old tem- 
poralities undiminished; butfhere the doctor is egregiously mis- 
taken, for the bishoprick was offered him with the old tempor- 
alities undiminished. His principal reason for rejecting the 
proffered preferment, was his objections to some points of con- 
formity. Bishop Pilkington, who succeeded his uncle in the 
see of Durham, connived at his non-conformity, and excused 
him from subscribing to the use of the habits, but could only 
screen him for a time; for during the controversy concerning 
the habits about 1568, he was deprived for his non-conformity, 
though it is probable he was not long under ecclesiastical cen- 
sure, seeing, the following year, he was again nominated to the 
bishoprick of Carlisle, and offered also the provostship of 
queen's college, Oxford; both of which he modestly declined. 
His heart was so set on the instruction of the people, that he 
had no relish for ecclesiastical preferment. 

Mr Gilpin continued for many years at Houghton, and dis- 
charged the duties of his office without being further molested. 
When he first undertook the care of souls, he settled it as a 
maxim, in his own mind, to watch over their morals, to attend 
particularly to their instruction, and do all the good in his 
power. His future endeavours were therefore wholly directed 
to these important objects; and the better to effect his purpose, 
he endeavoured, in the first place, to gain the affections of the 
people, and to obtain this without making any servile compli- 
ances. His means, as well as the end in view, were laudable. 
His behaviour was frank without levity. He was courteous 
and obliging without meanness, and insinuated himself into 
their good graces, not by flattering them in their vices, but 
by convincing them that he really and sincerely laboured for 
their happiness both here and hereafter. He was not satisfied 

9 2 g 



%0'% MEMOIR OF 

with the instruction he gave them in public, but taught them 
from house to house, and encouraged his people to come to him 
with their doubts and difficulties. In this way he admonished 
the vicious, and encouraged the well-disposed; and, by the 
blessing of God on his faithful labours, an important change 
for the better was soon apparent throughout the parish. But 
it grieved his righteous soul to see the surrounding parishes so 
shamefully neglected by their spiritual instructors, and in con- 
sequence so deeply sunk in ignorance, superstition, and immor- 
ality, that true religion, and a godly conversation, were almost 
unknown among them. Such indeed was their deplorable con- 
dition, that bishop Grindal found it necessary, in 1570, to pub- 
lish an injunction, wherein, among other things, he commands, 
" That no pedler shall be admitted to sell his wares in the porch 
of the church during divine service : That the parish clerks 
shall be able to read : That no lords of misrule, or summer 
lords and ladies, or any disguised persons, morice dancers, or 
others, shall come irreverently into the church, or play any un- 
seemly parts, with scoffs, jests, wanton gestures, or ribald talk, 
in the time of divine service." The bishop's prohibition 
amounts to a positive proof that these disgraceful scenes were 
common at that period in the see of Durham; and Mr Gilpin, 
that he might as far as in his power correct these abuses, tra- 
velled regularly every year through the most neglected parishes 
of Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and York- 
shire: And that his own people might not suffer from his 
absence, he was at the expence of keeping an assistant. There 
is a tract of country on the borders of Northumberland, called 
Readsdale and Tynedale, inhabited by a banditti who lived 
chiefly by plunder. In this wretched place, where men were 
afraid to travel, Mr Gilpin spent some part of his time every 
year. He had fixed places and appointments for preaching, to 
which he punctually attended. Where there was a church he 
made use of it, where none, he preached in barns, or other 
large buildings, or in the open fields, and never failed of a large 
congregation. 

Having at one time made the requisite preparations for an 
excursion into these deplorable places, he received a message 
from Dr. Barns, bishop of Durham, appointing him to preach 
a visitation sermon on the following Sabbath. He acquainted 
the bishop with his engagements, and begged his lordship to 
excuse him for that time; and receiving no answer, concluded 
that his excuse had been admitted, and so proceeded on his 
journey; but was not a little astonished, on his return, to find 
himself suspended. Some short time after this he received an 
order to meet the bishop and a great number of his clergy; 



BERNARD GILPIN. £35 

which he did, and was immediately ordered to preach. Mr 
Gilpin excused himself, hy pleading his suspension, and that he 
was wholly unprepared; but no excuse could be admitted, the 
suspension was removed, and accordingly Mr Gilpin, unpre- 
pared as he was, had to mount the pulpit, where he preached 
upon the important charge, and awful responsibility of a christ- 
ian bishop. In his sermon, after censuring, with unsparing se- 
verity, the corruption and vices of the clergy, he boldly ad- 
dressed the bishop in these words : " Let not your lordship ex- 
cuse yourself, by saying that these crimes have been committed 
by others without your knowledge; for be assured, my lord, 
that whatever is done, either by yourself in person, or by others 
in consequence of your connivance, is wholly your own : In pre- 
sence, therefore, of God, angels, and men, I pronounce you the 
author of all these evils; and in that great day of general ac- 
count, I shall be a witness against you, that all these things 
have come to your knowledge by my means; yea, and all these 
men who have heard me, will also witness against you." 

Mr Gilpin's friends were much alarmed for his safety : From 
the great freedom he had used, they imagined that the bishop 
had now got that advantage against him which his enemies had 
so long wished to obtain; and when they expostulated with him, 
he only said, "The Lord God ruleth over all; and if my dis- 
course answer the purpose intended, I am not very careful 
what be the consequences with regard to myself." Mr Gilpin 
called on the bishop to pay his compliments, who, after some 
conversation, told Mr Gilpin, that he had determined to wait 
on him to his house; which he accordingly did. - As soon 
as he had conducted him into the parlour, the bishop turned 
round, and taking him by the hand, said, " Father Gilpin, 
I acknowledge you are fitter to be bishop of Durham, than 
I am to be the parson of your parish. I ask forgiveness for 
past injuries. Father, forgive me. I know you have enemies; 
but so long as I am bishop of Durham, be assured none of them 
shall give you any farther trouble." 

Mr Gilpin's benevolence and hospitality were admirable, 
strangers and travellers found a cheerful reception at his house, 
all that came were made welcome; even when from home, the 
poor were fed, and strangers entertained as usual. Twenty- 
four of the poorest of his parishioners were his constant pen- 
sioners. Four times in the year a dinner was provided for the 
poor in general, when they received a certain quantity of corn, 
and a small sum of money; and lest the modesty of suffering 
individuals might prevent their relief, he was at great pains to 
search them out; but the money best laid out, in his opinion, 
was that which encouraged industry. If a poor man had lost a 



236 MEMOIR OF 

beast, he would send him another; or when, at any time, the 
farmer had a bad crop, he would remit a portion of his tythes. 
Thus, as far as possible, he took the burden of the parish upon 
himself; nor were his generosity and beneficence confined to the 
bounds of his own parish, through the distant places where he 
preached, and even on the road, he still exercised his usual lib- 
erality. 

Towards the close of life, Mr Gilpin went through his labo- 
rious exercises with great difficulty. By many years arduous 
labour and fatigue, his constitution was worn down, and his 
liealth considerably impaired. In a letter to a friend, he says, 
" To sustain all these travels and troubles I have a very weak 
body, subject to many diseases, by the motions of which I am 
daily warned of my approaching dissolution. My greatest grief 
is, that my memory is almost gone; my sight, and also my hear- 
ing, fast failing me, with other ailments more than I can well 
express." While thus struggling with old age, and a shattered 
constitution, an ox ran him down, with such vidlence, on the 
street, that though he survived the shock, he continued lame to 
the end of his life. 

During his last illness he signified his apprehensions to his 
friends, and spoke of death with happy composure of spirit. 
Some few days before his departure, he requested that his 
friends, his acquaintances and dependents, might be called into 
his chamber, where he delivered, to each of them, the pathetic 
admonitions of a dying christian; and soon after finished a life 
of unremitting labour in the cause of religion and holiness, un- 
der the consoling prospect of that eternal life, which God, who 
cannot lie, promised. His death took place the 4th of Marcli 
1583, and in the sixty-sixth year of his age. 

Such was the happy termination of the life and unremitting 
exertions of Mr Bernard Gilpin, whose learning, piety? charity, 
and conscientious labours, have seldom been equalled in modern 
times. He was possessed of a ready comprehension, a power- 
ful memory, and a profound judgment. He was greatly su- 
perior in the knowledge of languages, history and theology; 
and so intent on the instruction of the ignorant, that he was 
usually called the apostle of the north; and his beneficence was 
so universal, that they styled him the father of the poor. He 
was a decided puritan and non-conformist in principle; but 
hesitated concerning the duty of separating from the church. 
Full of faith and good works, he was accounted a saint even by 
his enemies, and died lamented as he lived revered. 

By his last will and testament he left one-half of his property 
to the poor of Houghton, and the rest to a number of poor 
scholars at the university. From his childhood Mr Gilpin 



JOHN COPING. 237 

was inclined to th (Rightfulness, as will appear by the following 
anecdote. " A begging friar, coming on a Saturday evening 
to his father's house, was received with great hospitality; but 
making too free with what was set before him, got disgustingly 
intoxicated. Next morning, however, he ordered the bell to be 
rung for public worship, and from the pulpit attacked the vices 
of the age with unmerciful severity, particularly the disgraceful 
sin of drunkenness. Young Gilpin, then a child on his mother's 
lap, for some time seemed earnestly attending to the friar's dis- 
course, and at length cried out, with indignation, " Mamma, 
do you hear that fellow how he speaks against drinking, and 
was drunk himself last night !" 

The disinterested pains he took among the barbarous people 
in the north, excited in their bosoms the warmest emotions of 
gratitude and esteem. Being once on his journey to Reads- 
dale and Tynedale, he had his horses stolen through the care- 
lessness of his servant. The news were quickly spread through 
the country, and every one expressed the highest indignation 
at the base transaction. In the meantime, the thief was rejoic- 
ing over his prize; but finding, by the general report, it was 
father Gilpin's horses he had stole, he became exceedingly ter- 
rified, believing the devil should carry him off bodily for steal- 
ing the property of such an excellent man; and under this fear- 
ful panic, came trembling back and restored the horses. Stran- 
gers and travellers were so kindly entertained, and even their 
beasts were so well taken care of at Mr Gilpin's house, that it 
was humorously said, " If a horse was let loose in any part of 
the country, he would soon find his way to the rectory of 
Houghton." 



JOHN COPING. 

This maltreated individual was minister near Bury, St. 
Edmund's; a zealous puritan of the Bro waist persuasion, and 
an almost unparalleled sufferer for non-conformity. In 1576 
he was brought into trouble by the bishop of Norwich's com- 
missary, and committed to prison at Bury, where he was charg- 
ed with maintaining the following opinions : " That unpreaching 
ministers were dumb dogs : That whoever kept saints' days 
were idolaters : That the queen, having sworn to keep God's 
law, and set forth his glory as appointed in the scriptures, but 
did not, is perjured : That for six months he had refused to have 
his own child baptized, because he had determined that none 
should baptize it who did not preach: and that he would not 



238 MEMOIR OF 

admit a god-father or god-mother on the occasion." Mr Coping 
having, for these offences, remained in prison two years, and 
still refusing to conform, was brought before justice Andrews, 
December 1578, when the above false and malicious opinions, 
as they were pleased to call them, were proved against him. 
Mr Coping, continuing stedfast to his principles, and resolved 
not to sacrifice a good conscience on the altar of conformity, 
was remanded to prison; where he remained almost five years 
more. Mr Elias Thacker, another minister of the same de- 
nomination, was his fellow-prisoner. After these two men had 
suffered this lingering and painful confinement, they were in- 
dicted, tried, and condemned, for circulating certain books, 
said to be seditiously written, by Thomas Brown, against the 
book of common prayer. Brown's book, for the circulating of 
which these men were condemned, was charged with sedition, 
inasmuch as it acknowledged the supremacy of the queen in 
civil matters only, not in matters ecclesiastical, thereby sub- 
verting the constitution of the established church. The judges 
laid hold on this construction, on purpose to aggravate their of- 
fence to the queen, whom they knew to be extremely jealous of 
her supremacy, as the sentence passed upon them was founded 
upon the 23d Eliz. against seditious libels, and for refusing the 
oath of supremacy. Having received the sentence of death, 
they were both hanged at Bury, in the month of June 1583. 
Such was the resentment, and even the madness of their per- 
secutors, that they collected together all that could be found of 
Brown's books, prior to their execution, and burnt them before 
their eyes. Under all these unavailing barbarities, the two 
champions of independence continued immoveable, and died 
sound in the faith, and with the reputation of holy and un- 
blemished lives. It may be considered unfair to measure the 
transactions of those days of ignorance by the standard of pre- 
sent faith or feeling; but to hang men for circulating books, 
while the writer himself was pardoned and set at liberty, 
appears more like implacable revenge than even the severity of 
justice. 



JOHN FIELD, A. M. 

This highly distinguished divine was minister of Alder- 
mary church, in the city. The puritans, whose application to 
the bishops, and also to the queen, for a farther reformation 
had failed, finding all their individual and united endeavours 
unavailing, came to the resolution of applying to parliament. 



JOHN FIELD. 239 

With this view, they made all the interest in their power 
amongst the members, and compiled a treatise, wherein their 
numerous grievances were exhibited in one view. This was 
drawn up by Mr Field and Mr Wilcocks, revised by a number of 
their brethren, and entitled, An Admonition to Parliament; to 
which were added, Beza's letter to the earl of Leicester, and 
Gualter's to bishop Parkhurst. The work contains the model 
of a christian church, pointing out the manner of electing mi- 
nisters, their various duties, and their equality of power, 
and then proceeds to expose the corruptions of the hierarchy, 
and the tyrannical proceedings of the bishops, concluding with 
an humble petition to both houses, that discipline, better ac- 
cording with the word of God, and other reformed churches, 
may be established by law. They proved, by incontrovertible 
evidence, the tyrannical government of the church, and the 
persecution by which it was upheld; but the doubt is, whether 
they would' not have fallen into the same error had they suc- 
ceeded in their application to parliament, and, like the then rul- 
ing ecclesiastics, also required an act of uniformity, which would 
have probably shifted this dangerous power into other hands, but 
could be of no other advantage, unless we suppose that the new 
actors would have exercised their authority with more modera- 
tion. The truth is, toleration of opinion was by no means gener- 
ally understood at this time. This fatal error, which had for 
so many ages made havock of the church, was introduced by the 
clergy when wearied with the simplicity of the apostolic mode 
of governing by persuasion and rational conviction. They then 
began to imitate the Jewish system of priests, altars, sacrifices, 
and sacerdotal habiliments, with other imitations of that despotic 
economy, which the doctrines of Christ declared null and void, 
and his death rendered for ever unnecessary. 

Mr Field a»d Mr Wilcocks presented the admonition to parlia- 
ment themselves, for which they were committed to Newgate; 
and the book being already printed, went abroad, and passed 
through four editions in about two years, notwithstanding that 
the bishops used their best endeavours to suppress it. The two 
prisoners were sentenced to one full year's imprisonment; which 
they accordingly suffered; but could not, even at that period, 
obtain their liberty. They petitioned the lords of the council, 
also the earl of Leicester, to endeavour to move the queen to 
order their liberation; but it does not appear whether they suc- 
ceeded in these applications. 

During their imprisonment, Dr. Whitegift published his 
answer to the admonition, in which he charges them with be- 
ing disturbers of the peace and good order of the church, with 
being enemies to the state, and holding, publishing, and abetting 



240 MEMOIR OF 

many dangerous heresies. To these charges they wrote an ani- 
mated reply, annexing a very judicious and comprehensive 
statement of their religious opinions. 

All their attempts to promote a farther reformation in the 
church of England having thus proved impracticable, the lead- 
ing puritans agreed to attempt it in a more private way. With 
this view, they erected a presbytery at Wandsworth in Surrey; 
which being seated on the bank of the Thames, was convenient 
for the London brethren. This is said to have taken place in 
1572. It is not precisely ascertained at what time these per- 
secuted individuals were liberated from prison, only that Mr 
Field, we find, was minister of Aldermary church in 1574; but 
his hardships were not yet over; for teaching children in gen- 
tlemen's houses, contrary to the orders of the bishops, both he 
and Mr Wilcocks were banished to the most barbarous places of 
Staffordshire, Shropshire, and Lancashire, or other places 
where his lordship observed they might be useful in reclaiming 
the people from the ignorance and errors of Rome. The next 
account we meet with of this excellent divine is, that he was 
engaged with several other learned divines in a disputation 
with certain papists in the tower, in which he is said to have 
taken an active part, and to have collected and published an 
account of the same, after having been examined and approved 
by the persons concerned. In 1584 he was again suspended by 
the bishop of London, for admitting an assembly of divines at 
his house, among whom several were from Scotland. These 
divines being disaffected to the hierarchy, the assembly was 
considered an unlawful conventicle. Mr Field was therefore 
suspended for entertaining them, and the rest deprived for re- 
fusing to subscribe. Whether he was ever restored to the ex- 
ercise of his ministry is uncertain. He died in February 1587, 
and his remains were interred in Cripplegate chift*ch, London. 
Some short time before his death, Mr Field united with his 
brethren in subscribing the Book of Discipline. 



JOHN FOX, A. M. 

This celebrated author, better known by the title of Mar- 
tyrologist, was born at Boston in Lincolnshire, in 1517. Ow- 
ing to the early death of his father, and the second marriage of 
his mother, he was put under the guardian care of his father- 
in-law. At the age of sixteen he was sent to Brazen -nose col- 
lege, Oxford, and afterwards became fellow of Magdalene college 
in the same university. In his youth he discovered a taste for 



JOHN FOX. 241 

poetry, and composed several Latin comedies upon subjects 
selected from the scriptures. For some time after he went to 
college, Mr Fox was strongly attached to the Romish religion. 
His life was also strictly moral, he therefore rejected the doc- 
trine of justification through the merits of Christ, considering 
that his own merit, alms-deeds, penances, and compliance with 
the ceremonies of the church, would afford him sufficient se- 
curity and protection. Afterwards, however, he came to be 
convinced of the false foundation on which he had erected his 
visionary fabric of defence, and fled for refuge to the blood of 
sprinkling. His indefatigable researches into the history of the 
church, the writings of the fathers, and especially the holy 
scriptures, thoroughly convinced him of the immense difference 
that existed between the doctrines and practice of the Roman 
church and those of the primitive christians. 

Anxious to become a competent judge of the controversy, 
which was now become general between the papists and pro- 
testants, he studied incessantly. Living in a very solitary man- 
ner, and forsaking, in a great measure, the company of his old 
popish friends and acquaintances, he soon became suspected of 
entertaining the reforming principles, and of being infected 
with heresy : But having found the truth, he became bold in 
its defence, and determined to suffer the loss of all things that 
came in competition with his public profession thereof. This 
was no sooner known, than he was publicly accused, and ex- 
pelled the college for heresy. His enemies indeed thought they 
had dealt very favourably in suffering him to escape with his 
life. This took place in 1545, upon which he was deserted by 
his friends and relatives, who, as he had been convicted of he- 
resy, thought it unsafe, and for that reason were unwilling to 
countenance or protect him. In the meantime, his father-in- 
law basely took advantage of this circumstance, to withhold his 
estate which had been left him by his father. In this hour of 
extremity, while forsaken by his friends, and oppressed by his 
enemies, God had compassion on him, and raised him an unex- 
pected friend and protector, in Sir Thomas Lucy of Warwick- 
shire, who took him into his house, and made him tutor to his 
children, where he found a comfortable asylum from the rage 
of his enemies. While in this situation he married, but still 
continued in Sir Thomas' family till his pupils were grown 
up, when he was again reduced to great straits, and glad to so- 
licit entertainment at the house of his father-in-law, which, 
with considerable difficulty, he sometimes obtained; and some- 
times also he lived at his wife's father's in Coventry, till a little 
before the death of king Henry, that he removed to the metro- 
polis. After his arrival in London, he had no employment for 
9 2h 



24$ ME MO Ml OF 

a considerable time, arid was again reduced to absolute penury 
and destitution. In this deplorable condition, as he was sitting 
one day in St. Paul's, pale, meagre, and dejected from want and 
starvation, with a countenance ghastly as that of a dying man, a 
person, whom he had no recollection of having ever seen be- 
fore, came and sat down beside him, and accosting him with 
great familiarity, put a sum of money into his hand, saying, 
" Be of good cheer Mr Fox, and use all means to preserve your 
life; for, be assured, that in a few days God will give you a 
better prospect, and provide you with less precarious means of 
subsistence." Though Mr Fox could never learn to whom he 
was indebted for that providential relief, in less than three days 
he was taken into the family of the duchess of Richmond, and 
appointed tutor to the earl of Surrey's children, whose education 
had been committed to her care. In this honourable family 
Mr Fox continued during the remaining part of the reign of 
Henry VIII., the whole reign of Edward VI., and part of that 
of queen Mary. Bishop Gardiner, in whose diocese he enjoyed 
this comfortable retreat, would have willingly brought him to 
the stake, had not the powerful protection of the duke of Nor- 
folk, who had been his pupil, saved him. It was with deep 
regret that Gardiner beheld the heir of one of the first families 
of England trained up in the protestant faith under his influ- 
ence. This proud and persecuting prelate formed several de- 
signs, and used various stratagems to effect the ruin of this 
harmless individual, till at last he had to fly for his life, and 
take shelter in a foreign land. 

The duke, who revered him as a father, protected him so 
long as he was able, and took care, when he removed, to pro- 
vide him with every thing necessary for his comfort on the 
voyage. He set sail from Ipswich, in company with his wife 
and some other persons engaged in the same cause. The ves- 
sel had scarcely got out to sea when they were overtaken by a 
tremendous storm, which obliged them to return to the port, 
where they landed next day. But Mr Fox had just got ashore 
when he was apprised that the bishop's warrant for his appre- 
hension had been emitted, and that the strictest search had been 
made for him during his absence at sea. Upon this intelligence, 
he prevailed on the captain to put again to sea; which he did 
immediately, though the storm had not subsided, and they arriv- 
ed in safety at Newport, in Flanders, in two days. Thus had 
Mr Fox twice narrowly escaped the flames. 

From Newport he travelled to Antwerp, then to Frankfort, 
where he got involved in the contentions excited amongst the 
brethren by the officious interference of Dr. Cox and his party, 
which obliged the first settlers to remove to Basil in Switzer- 



JOHN FOX. £43 

land, whither Mr Fox accompanied them. Basil, at this time, 
was accounted one of the first places in Europe for printing; 
here a number of the English refugees found employment 
in revising and correcting the press. Mr Fox supported 
his family in this way; and here he laid the plan of his Acts 
and Monuments of the Martyrs, and had proceeded some length 
with the work, but reserved the greater part of it till he returned 
to his native country, where he could obtain the testimony of 
a greater number of witnesses who had seen the transactions 
they attested. It appears, from the author's own notes, that he 
was eleven years in compiling this great work, notwithstanding 
that he was favoured with the assistance of several distinguish- 
ed characters; among whom were Mr John Aylmer, bishop of 
London, Edmond Grindal, afterwards archbishop of Canter- 
bury, and Thomas Norton, a highly celebrated lawyer, who 
married archbishop Cranmer's only daughter. From this last- 
mentioned individual our author received the greatest assistance. 
Grindal likewise furnished him with a great many documents, 
which, when digested and arranged, he found of important ser- 
vice. For this purpose, during Grindal's exile, he had estab- 
lished a correspondence in England, by which means statements 
of most of the sufferings of the martyrs came through his hands; 
but so intent was he on obtaining satisfactory evidence for 
every thing introduced into this work, that he persuaded Mr 
Fox not to publish it till some opportunity could be embraced 
for comparing and correcting the documents sent over on the 
ground where the transactions took place. It was also by 
Grindal's advice that Mr Fox at first published the Acts of 
several of the Martyrs separately, particularly of such as had 
been supported with satisfactory evidence. Mr Fox had re- 
solved to publish the whole ?/ork in Latin; but by the advice of 
Grindal, he published it both in Latin and English, with the 
design of rendering it more generally serviceable to the public. 
It was first published in London, in one thick folio volume, 
with the following title, " Acts and Monuments of these latter 
perilous days, touching matters of the Churche; wherein are 
comprehended and described the great persecutions and hor- 
rible troubles that have been wrought and practised by the 
Romish prelates, speciallye in this realme of England and 
Scotland, from the yeare of our Lorde a thousand unto the time 
now present," &c. The ninth edition of this work was publish- 
ed in London, 1632, in three volumes folio, with copper cuts, 
the former editions having had only wooden ones. 

Several writers have laboured to depreciate the memory of 
Mr Fox, by insinuating that his martyrology contains many 
misrepresentations and falsehoods. Dr. Collier, ever watchful. 



244 MEMOIR OF 

for an opportunity to vilify his performance, and lessen his re- 
putation, charges him with ill-nature and disingenuousness, and 
that a vein of coarse satire and indelicate phraseology runs 
through the whole work : That he ought to he read with great 
caution; moreover, that his zeal was bitter, and that his passion 
and disaffection pushed him on to profanity. 

That Mr Fox evinces, in some parts of his book, a temper 
kindled into indignation, will not be denied; but then it ought 
to be recollected, that the scenes, of merciless cruelty and un- 
speakable torment, he has described, were many of them recent 
transactions, several of which, in all likelihood, passed under 
his own eye, and must therefore have left impressions on his 
mind which could never be obliterated; besides, though he 
escaped the flames of Smithfield almost by a miracle, he had to 
drink a pretty large proportion of the bitter cup allotted to the 
faithful of that period — all which circumstances taken into the ac- 
count, the wonder is not, that he sometimes gave vent to his in- 
dignation at such diabolical procedure, but that he conducted 
himself, while describing these fiend-like transactions, with so 
much moderation as he has done. Mr Fox, like every other 
writer of memoirs, was subjected to the inconveniency of select- 
ing his information from so many sources, that it was impossible 
for him to publish a volume of such dimensions with certainty 
that no error had crept into his narrative. He corrected, how- 
ever, all the mistakes that came to his knowledge in his next 
edition. What more could be reasonably expected ? Tyrants 
and persecutors, in all ages, have endeavoured to cover their 
atrocities with some plausible pretence. It is little wonder then 
that they should charge Fox with disingenuity, who had torn 
oif their veil of hypocrisy, and exhibited them to the world in 
all their naked and hideous deformity. 

On this herculean performance Mr Strype passes an honour- 
able encomium. " Mr Fox (says he) has done essential service 
to the protestant cause, by shewing, from ancient records, books, 
registers, and choice manuscripts, the continual encroachments 
of the popes and their coadjutors, and the spirited resistance 
maintained by learned and good men in every age and country, 
particularly under king Henry and queen Mary in England. 
He hath preserved the memoirs of those holy men and women, 
those bishops and divines, together with their histories, acts, suffer- 
ings, and deaths, cheerfully submitted to for the sake of Christ 
and his gospel, and for refusing to comply with the popish doc- 
trines and superstition. The world is infinitely indebted to Mr 
Fox, continues he, for his painful and patient researches into 
the records, archieves, and repositories of original acts and let- 
ters of state, and other highly-important manuscripts, from 



JOHN FOX. 245 

which he has communicated abundance of extracts in these 
volumes; and as his labours were incessant, so his transcrip- 
tions are eminently correct." 

No book ever inflicted a wound so deep and incurable on the 
Romish system of superstition and bloody persecution; on which 
account, his talents, zeal, and labours, drew down upon himself 
the malice and unqualified malediction of all his catholic foes. 
His name was inserted in a bead roll, or list of prescription, in- 
tended for a first sacrifice when the contemplated scheme of 
overrunning England should be accomplished. Mr Fox's his- 
tory of the martyrs was placed in the common halls of arch- 
bishops, bishops, deans, archdeacons, and heads of colleges, and 
in all churches and chapels throughout the kingdom, by order 
of queen Elizabeth. 

On learning that Elizabeth had mounted the throne of Eng- 
land, Mr Fox returned from his exile, and was received with 
great cordiality, and kindly entertained by his pupil the duke 
of Norfolk, who maintained him at his residence, and settled a 
pension upon him by his last will. In 1573, when this unhap- 
py nobleman was beheaded on Towerhill for his treasonable 
connections with the queen of Scots, he was attended by Mr 
Fox, and Dr. Newell dean of St. Paul's, in his last moments on 
the scaffold. After returning from the continent, Mr Fox was 
three years without preferment of any kind whatever, as appears 
from his letter to Dr. Humphrey, his friend and acquaintance; 
where he says, " I still wear the same clothes, and remain in 
the sordid condition that England received me when I came 
from Germany; nor have I changed my degree and order, 
which is that of the mendicants or friar preachers, if you 
please." Thus, with good-natured pleasantry, did he reproach 
the neglect and ingratitude of the times. He continued, how- 
ever, till the year 1563 without the least preferment, when se- 
cretary Cecil procured for him a prebend in the church of Sal- 
isbury; this, which with some difficulty he retained till his 
death, was all the preferment ever he obtained. He lived, 
however, many years after this in great esteem and favour with 
persons of high rank and reputation. Bishops Grindal, Park- 
hurst, Pilkington, and Aylmer, Sir Francis Walsingham, Sir 
Francis Drake, Sir Thomas Gresham, were his steady and 
powerful friends; and by their influence would have raised 
him to the highest preferment; but as he could not subscribe, 
and disapproved of the ceremonies of the church, he expressed 
his gratitude for their kind intentions, but begged to be ex- 
cused. 

In the year 1564, archbishop Parker attempted to force the 
clergy to conform to the ritual of the established church; and 



246 MEMOIR OF 

trusting that the capital would influence the country, began 
with the London ministers : Judging also that Mr Fox's conduct 
would, in all probability, be followed in the city, he was first 
called, and examined on the following question : " Will you 
promise conformity to the apparel, by Jaw established, and tes- 
tify your acquiescence by subscribing with your hand ?" Here 
Mr Fox drew from his pocket his Greek New Testament, say- 
ing, " To this I will subscribe !" 

When the commissioners urged him to subscribe the canon, 
he refused, saying, " I have nothing in the church but a pre- 
bend in Salisbury, and much good may it do you if you take it 
from me." Whoever refused thus to conform were immediately 
suspended, and, at the termination of three months, deprived of 
their livings. His ecclesiastic judges, however, were ashamed 
to deprive so celebrated an individual to whom so little had been 
given. 

The queen having, at one time, been graciously pleased to 
grant indulgence to several non-conforming divines, Fox pre- 
sented her majesty with a panegyric written in Latin; but 
in the year 1575, he had occasion to address her on a very dif- 
ferent subject. In the course of this year the spirit of persecu- 
tion was wrought up to the most extravagant pitch against the 
anabaptists in London, ten of whom were condemned for the 
opinions they held; of which number eight were ordered into 
banishment, and the remaining two to be burnt. On this oc- 
casion Mr Fox wrote an excellent letter of admonition to the 
queen, in which he deprecates rekindling the fires of Smith- 
field, from the consideration, that men, who err from ignorance, 
which all must do who adhere to their errors in defiance of 
death, are more the objects of pity than punishment, more en- 
titled to instruction than persecution, unless we are determined 
to destroy the soul as well as the body. I do not write this, 
says he, with any design of favouring or patronizing error, but 
to save the lives of erring men, I myself being one, and to leave 
them an opportunity of re-considering their belief, of being better 
informed, and of retracting their erroneous opinions. His laud- 
able endeavours, however, to soften the rigour of her severity 
against these otherwise unoffending individuals, were all to no 
purpose: the queen remained inflexible, and though she always 
called him father Fox, on this occasion she gave him a flat de- 
nial, unless they would submit to her despotic authority; which 
they would not, and were accordingly both burnt at Smithfield, 
July 22d, 1575, to the everlasting disgrace of the reign, the 
character, and kingdom, of this cruel and imperious woman. 

Mr Fox was a laborious student, a most learned, pious, and 
judicious divine, strongly opposed to every act of severity in- 



JOHN FOX. £47 

matters of religion ; but being a noted and determined non-con- 
formist, his merits were overlooked and shamefully neglected. 
Preferment, however, he had determined not to accept on the 
terms it was then bestowed; he was content with his prebend 
at Salisbury; while the richest mitre in England, according to 
Fuller, would have counted itself preferred by being placed on 
his head. His enemies were many; yet several of them have 
had the honesty to acknowledge his powerful talents, his pious 
life, and manifold virtues. Even Wood denominates him a sa- 
gacious searcher into antiquity, incomparably charitable, and of 
an exemplary life and conversation; but a severe Calvinist, and 
a bitter enemy to popery. 

This celebrated author, and indefatigable preacher, having 
spent a long and laborious life in promoting and in suffering 
for the cause of Christ, and the best interests of men, resigned 
his soul to God who gave it, in April 18th, 1587, and in the 
seventieth year of his age. His remains were interred in the 
chancel of St. Giles's church, Cripplegate, London, where, 
against the south wall, a monumental inscription was erected to 
his memory by his son. 



JOHN ELLISTON. 

This pious, diligent, and faithful minister of the gospel of 
Jesus Christ, had a benefice at Preston in Northamptonshire, 
where he laboured to reform his parishioners with the greatest 
assiduity, both by preaching and catechising; but endured much 
trouble and persecution on account of his non-conformity to the 
ceremonies of the church. His enemies were men strongly at- 
tached to popery, who, hating the simplicity of the gospel as 
taught by Mr Elliston, complained to the chancellor of Peters- 
borough that he did not wear the surplice, read the litany, nor 
use the cross in baptism. For these weighty reasons he was 
indicted to stand trial at the assizes; where his case being heard 
before the judge, he was dismissed. But having left an account 
of the troubles in which he was involved, we shall suffer Mr 
Elliston to speak for himself. 

" Having been pastor at Preston (says he) only about ten 
weeks, and anxious to instruct the people in the scriptural doc- 
trines of religion to the best of my ability, some of my parish- 
ioners, much attached to the Romish ceremonies, complained to 
Dr. Ellis, the chancellor, that I did not wear the surplice, read 
the litany, or use the cross in baptism; on which I was cited 
before the judge at the assize, but acquitted and dismissed. 
After this they exhibited a charge against me to Dr. Scambler, 



248 MEMOIR OF 

bishop of Peterborough, consisting of sixteen articles. On my 
appearance before his lordship, February 10th, 1584, he asked 
me whether I would subscribe; and on refusing, treated me 
with much abusive language. 

" The first article charged against me was, that I did not 
wear the surplice. I said I did not refuse it. The second, That 
I did not use the cross in baptism; and being asked why I did 
not, I answered, because it was nowhere required in the word 
of God, the unerring rule by which the conduct of all christian 
ministers, as well as others, ought to be regulated. Neither, 
said the bishop, is it required what kind of boots you shall 
wear. To which I replied, the form or fashion of my boots can 
give no offence, there being no law, human or divine, for regu- 
lating that article of dress; but christian baptism is distinctly 
held forth by the author of our religion, without any such cere- 
mony as the sign of the cross, and to that original institution 
we do well to take heed, lest we draw down upon ourselves the 
plagues threatened against all such as add to the already per- 
fect words of that inspired book. Here again the bishop scoffed 
and abused me. In the next place, he asked why I catechised 
the aged as well as the young. To which I replied, that hav- 
ing the charge of all, I considered it my duty to instruct all; 
and that catechising was one method, and a very profitable one, 
for conveying instruction to persons of any age. Old people, 
he said, should net be catechised, they did not stand in need of 
it. I begged he would encourage and promote, rather than 
hinder good things. But, said he, you omit the litany on Sab- 
bath days. I preach, said I, on Sabbath. But, said he, preach 
or not on Sabbath, the litany must be read. But why do you 
keep persons back from the communion ? Because, I replied, 
they will not submit to be examined. You must admit them, 
said the bishop, if they can say the Lord's prayer and the ten 
commandments. After many other charges, which I answered 
as occasion served, I was suspended, and informed, that unless 
I would subscribe, I should not remain in his diocese. To this 
I only replied, that the earth is the Lord's, and he hath no 
doubt a place for me to live in; so I departed. 

" On March 6th; he cited me again, along with several 
other ministers, requiring us to subscribe; and on May 30th, I 
was called a third time; but not having had timeous warning, 
he had deprived me before I could make my appearance. I 
therefore protested against his unjust sentence, and appealed, 
telling him that he had not dealt uprightly in my case, not- 
withstanding that I had endeavoured, with all quietness, to 
discharge the duties of my station with honest propriety, while 
he treated others, if they would onlv subscribe, with great 



JOHN ELLISTON. 24«9 

kindness and civility, though destitute both of learning and in- 
tegrity. If, however, you go about thus to discredit the con- 
scientious part of your clergy, be assured you will thereby dis- 
credit yourself. After this, though Petersborough was thirty- 
six miles from the place where I lived, I had seven journies 
thither in little more than one year. In April I went to London 
for an inhibition; and after my return had to make another 
journey to Peter sborough to have it served on the bishop. In 
the meantime, archbishop Whitegift, on purpose to prevent me 
from prosecuting my appeal, had me cited before him on ascen- 
sion day. When I appeared before his grace, two articles were 
charged against me — 1st, That at morning prayer, on whitsun- 
day, I did not read two psalms and two chapters, and then 
preach; and, 2d, That preaching from the second psalm, and 
railing against my enemies, I affirmed that they would all be 
damned who troubled me. On hearing my answers to these 
charges, I was dismissed; but the fees of the pursuivants, and 
other expences connected with all these travels, &c, were very 
considerable. After this, I was called several times up to Lon- 
don, sometimes before Whitegift, and sometimes also before the 
bishop of London. These, my troubles, says Mr Elliston, 
pressed me down for almost three years, during which period I 
was obliged to travel ten times to London, seven times to 
Petersborough, many times to Leicester and Northampton, and 
once to Cambridge." The unavoidable expence attending so 
many journies, together with a long deprivation of his office, 
brought this peaceable and moderate puritan to the verge of po- 
verty. The charges against him were so trifling, that they were 
ashamed to commit him to prison; but determined on his ruin, 
endeavoured to compass it by wantonly subjecting him to these 
troublesome and expensive travels. He was a member of the 
classes at Devontry, and frequently attended the associations of 
the puritans. It is thought he died in 1617, 



LAURENCE HUMPHREY, D. D. 

This celebrated puritan was born in Buckinghamshire, at 
Newport-Pagnel, about the year 1527. He had his education 
at first in the university of Cambridge, afterwards in Magda- 
len college, Oxford, where he became perpetual fellow in 1552. 
Having studied theology with uncommon industry, he entered 
into holy orders, and remained at Oxford till some time after 
the commencement of queen Mary's persecution, when he was 
permitted, by the heads of the university, to travel into foreign 
parts for the space of one year, on condition that he should 
9 2 i 



£.50 MEMOIR OF 

avoid every place suspected of heresy, and the company and 
correspondence of all who were, or had been, authors and abet- 
tors of heretical opinions. 

Having thus obtained liberty to leave the country, he repair- 
ed to Zurich, where he joined the English refugees; and failing 
to return at the end of the year, lost his fellowship. During 
his exile at Zurich, we find his name subscribed to a letter 
from the English protestants in that place, addressed to their 
brethren at Frankfort, dated October 23d, 1554. After the 
death of queen Mary, Humphrey, having corresponded with the 
learned divines of Geneva, returned so much the Calvinist, 
both in doctrine and discipline, that the best character that the 
conformists could give him, but to which truth obliged them, 
was, that he was a moderate and conscientious non-conformist, 
much commended for the purity of his life and conversation, 
and admired for his wit and learning. On his return he was 
restored to his fellowship, and nominated by her majesty for 
queen's professor of divinity in the Oxford university, having 
been considered the fittest person then in the kingdom for dis- 
charging the duties of that important office. Soon after this 
he took his degrees in divinity, and was elected president of 
Magdalen college, against a powerful opposition from the po- 
pish party. In this situation, many persons, afterward famed 
for their literary acquirements, were brought forward under his 
care, of whom the famous Sir Thomas Bodley was one. 

In the following account of this celebrated divine, we shall 
have occasion frequently to mention his intimate friend, the wor- 
thy Dr. Thomas Samson, who, like himself, was highly regard- 
ed at Oxford, for his piety, learning, and zeal in promoting 
the true religion. Their endearing qualifications and exertions 
were nevertheless insufficient to secure them against the rigour 
of the high commission for rejecting the popish garments. Ac- 
cordingly, Humphrey and Samson, with four other divines, 
were cited before archbishop Parker and his colleagues, at Lam- 
beth, on the 3d of March 1564. On their appearance, the 
archbishop, on purpose to convince them of the propriety of 
conforming, urged upon them the opinions of Peter Martyr and 
Martin Bucer; but still their judgments remained unconvinced. 
They requested to be permitted to return to their duty; but this 
the archbishop, who had determined to bring them before the 
council, promptly refused. After waiting his pleasure for some 
time at London, they prepared a petition, drawn up in an ele- 
gant but submissive style, which they presented to the arch- 
bishop, the bishops of London, Winchester, Ely, and Lincoln, 
with other commissioners. 

In this supplication they expressed their sorrow that any dis- 



LAURENCE HUMPHREY. %5l 

sention should exist between them on so small a matter as linen 
and woollen, as they styled the eap and surplice. They expressed 
their satisfaction, however, that under the Captain of salvation, 
they all professed the same gospel, and held by the same faith ; 
though in the matter of habits each followed the dictates of their 
own minds, where there was often room for liberty, but always 
for charity. They urged the authority of Augustine, Socrates, 
and Theodoret, to show that the great diversity of rites and ob- 
servances that existed in their times, did not mar the unity and 
concord of the church; and farther urged their claim to tolera- 
tion, from the consideration, that their consciences were ten- 
der, and ought not to be grieved with unnecessary forms : 
That they themselves were very far from being either turbulent 
or obstinate : That they neither studied novelty, refused to be 
convinced, or attempted to disturb the peace or unity of the 
church : That things in themselves quite iudiiferent might not 
always appear to be so even to good and peaceable christians; 
and that the law, for restoring the ceremonies of the Romish 
church, was at least connected with, and assimilated to, those 
laws under which our forefathers groaned for deliverance. See- 
ing, however, you have taken a different view of these laws and 
ceremonies, we do not condemn you : Charity pleads, and we 
have ground to expect you will listen to the moderation of her 
amiable arguments, in not condemning us for exercising the 
same rights of conscience as we cheerfully allow to you, to 
others, and to all. They therefore beseech their lordships, if 
there be any fellowship in Christ, that they would follow the 
directions given by divine inspiration concerning such things 
as are of themselves matters of indifference, in permitting every 
one to be fully persuaded in his own mind. They wrote also 
to the earl of Leicester; but their arguments and condescension 
were of no avail; they were still obliged to continue their at- 
tendance. The commissioners were divided in their opinions, 
some were for enforcing the law of conformity, others were for 
conniving at their non-conformity. The archbishop, however, 
who was otherwise minded, on the 29th of April peremptorily 
declared, in open court, that they should either conform to wear 
the square cap in their long gowns, to wear the surplice with 
non-regent's hoods in the choirs, according to ancient custom; 
and that they must communicate kneeling, and use wafer or 
unleavened bread — otherwise there was no alternative left but to 
give up their preferment. To this they replied, that their con- 
sciences would not suffer them to conform on these intolerant 
terms, whatever might be the consequence. For these reasons 
they were still continued in their confinement; but the brunt or 
the battle fell on Dr, Samson. 



C Z5% MEMOIR OF 

During this year, they were several times examined before 
the archbishop respecting the wearing of the Romish habits ; 
when, among many other reasons, they urged the words of St. 
Paul, That as meat offered to idols ought not to be eaten, so gar- 
ments consecrated to idolatry ought not to be worn : That things 
indifferent in themselves ought not to be matters of necessity, for 
this were to change the very nature of such things, and deprive 
us of our liberty of choosing or refusing : For, added they, if 
we are bound to wear the popish habits whenever commanded, 
we may soon be forced to have our crowns shorn, and to use 
oil, spittle, salt, cream, with all the other papistical additions to 
the ordinances of the gospel of Christ. 

Humphrey and Samson having freely and fully given their 
opinions, with their declaration to abide by the same at all haz- 
ards, a pacific proposition was drawn up; to which, after due 
consideration, they both subscribed, with this reserve, that all 
things that are lawful are not always either edifying or expe- 
dient. Upon which it appears they were both released. 

About this time Humphrey wrote a letter to the queen, in 
which he addressed her majesty as follows : 

" Several of the most renowned of the kings of Judah, in 
their zeal for the house of Go'd, destroyed the groves, and 
threw down the altars erected to idolatry. They defaced and 
removed the images, and annihilated even the smallest relics 
of idolatry. Nor can the form and pattern of our reformation 
be perfect so long as we retain so many of the foolish and su- 
perstitious memorials of the enemies of the truth. Your ma- 
jesty knows, that with regard to things in themselves indiffer- 
ent, it is the right and privilege of every man to hold his own 
opinion, and that the conscience ought in no case to be violat- 
ed. This truth will, I doubt not, be attested by the internal 
feelings of every man. Seeing, therefore, that the liberty we 
request is reasonable, honest, and necessary, while the observ- 
ances commanded are doubtful, and of no utility, Why should 
we, who are your loyal and loving subjects, besides being the 
ministers of God's word, stand as exceptions in the exercise of 
your kindness and clemency, O queen, usually open to all? 
Though you do not give place to your subjects, still you may 
exercise your clemency in sparing the distressed : Though you 
will not annul a public decree, still you may mitigate its se- 
verity. If you cannot abolish a law, you may grant a tole- 
ration. 

" The acquisition of power, O queen, either in church or state, 
forms no part of our request; but we are very desirous that Rea- 
son, the Queen of queens, should bear rule, and that the hum- 
ble request of the ministers of Christ may obtain what common 



LAURENCE HUMPHREY. 253 

justice claims in their behalf as men and subjects, and religion 
demands for them as christians and christian ministers. Where- 
fore, most noble prince, I humbly entreat your majesty seriously 
and attentively to consider the majesty of the glorious gospel, 
the equity and propriety of the reformation, in which, as a na- 
tion, we are earnestly engaged; the greatness of the work, 
and the small number of the workmen; the lightness of the 
fault, and the disproportioned weight of the punishment; the 
tears of the good, the triumphs of the wicked, and the many 
mischiefs incident to the times." 

In consequence of this, and similar endeavours on the part of 
Mr Humphrey, he obtained a connivance or partial toleration, 
and the bishop of Winchester presented him with a small living 
in the diocese of Salisbury; but bishop Jewel, his professed 
friend, and intimate acquaintance, refused to admit him, and 
protested that he never would till he gave satisfactory assurance 
of his conforming; nor does it appear that he ever was ad- 
mitted. 

When the advertisements for enforcing a more strict uni- 
formity were published, Dr. Humphrey wrote to secretary Ce- 
cil, requesting him to use his best endeaA^ours with the queen to 
prevent the execution of that intolerant order. In this letter, 
dated April 23d, 1556, he says, "I am sorry that the old sore 
has broken out afresh, and that to the ruin of many, and the 
sorrow and astonishment of all. The book of advertisements 
contains many things, which, on many accounts, are disap- 
proved by multitudes of wise and good men; and the vehemence 
with which it has been enforced has agitated the whole king- 
dom, and spoiled every thing. The grief and vexation occa- 
sioned by these cruel measures are greater than you could well 
imagine; and truly it is a matter of serious import, and deep 
lamentation, that the most active and able ministers of the word 
are silenced from preaching, while the cries of numbers of the 
people awaken the pity of God and man. I humbly request 
you to endeavour to move the queen to put a stop to these ad- 
vertisements, that the book may be permitted to sleep in silence. 
The people, at this time, have need of unity and concord; but 
these advertisements have created more variety and discord 
than ever. — To your wisdom and goodness I refer all." 

About the same time he expostulated with the bishops on 
their unwarrantable, corrupt, and unchristian procedure. In this 
letter he tells them, "The gospel requires that Christ be pub- 
licly preached, and the faith of Christ openly professed before 
men; but in place of encouraging the true servants of Christ in 
prosecuting their arduous employment, every discouragement is 
thrown in their way, The man possessing the necessary quali- 



254 MEMOIR OF 

fixations for instructing the people, without his cap, is silenced; 
while the man, destitute both of character and qualifications, 
with his cap and surplice 5 is exalted; so that the preacher is 
punished for his labour, and the unpreaching prelate rewarded 
for his idleness. Is not this like the Pharisees preferring mint 
and anise to judgment and mercy; the traditions of men to the 
commandments of God ? Charity, my lords, would have first 
taught us, equity would have spared us, brotherly-kindness 
would have warned us, and pity would have pardoned us, if we 
had been found transgressors. God is my witness, I think ho- 
nourably of your lordships; I esteem you as brethren, and re- 
verence you as lords of the congregation. How is it then that 
you have no good opinion of us ? Why do you trust known 
adversaries, and distrust your very brethren ? We confess one 
faith, preach one doctrine, and acknowledge one ruler on earth; 
in all these things we are cordially agreed — and must we be 
thus maltreated for the want of a cap and surplice? Shall 
brethren persecute brethren for a forked cap, contrived by some 
idle monk for a badge of singularity ? Shall we never cease to 
fight about the pope's coat, notwithstanding that his head and 
shoulders, nay, his whole body, is banished from the land? 
God has commanded us to exercise our talents; and must we 
be rendered idle and useless in his church, because we do not 
choose to disgrace the gravity of our office with the motley gar- 
ments of a stage fool ? My lords, before this take place, you 
would do well to consider the cause of the church, the triumphs 
of antichrist, the laughter of satan, and the sufferings of your 
fellow-men and fellow-christians." 

During the same year, queen Elizabeth made a pompous 
visit to the university of Oxford; on which occasion Dr. Hum- 
phrey distinguished himself in a public disputation before her 
majesty, whom the university entertained with an academical 
exercise of a different description every day, in which the ablest 
men of the age exerted all their powers to merit the applause of 
an audience so dignified and illustrious. At the conclusion, 
the queen made a speech in praise of the learned disputants. 

Dr. Humphrey was favoured at last with a toleration, which 
lasted about ten years, when he consented to wear the habits, 
and was made dean of Gloucester, 1576; and in 1580 removed 
to the deanery of Winchester; which he held till his death. 
The earl of Leicester, in his letter to the university of Cam- 
bridge, makes very honourable mention of him, and warmly re- 
commends him to the office of vice-chancellor of that university, 
as " every way a right worthy man." He was, for many years > 
president of Magdalen college, Oxford; public professor of di- 
vinity in that universitVj and several times vice-chancellor. 



LAURENCE HUMPHREY. 255 

In speaking of this distinguished literarian, the Oxford histo- 
rian says, " That he was the standard-bearer in the cause of non- 
conformity; that he stocked his college with non-conformists, 
insomuch, that for many years after his death they could not 
be rooted out; and that he scattered the seeds of Calvinism so 
thick in the divinity schools, and expressed such abhorrence of 
the doctrines and ceremonies of the Romish church, as if the 
one had been the oracles of God, and the other a loathsome 
sink of corruption and abomination." This writer had, never- 
theless, the candour to acknowledge, that Humphrey was a 
great and general scholar, an able linguist, and a profound di- 
vine, who, for elegance of style, clearness of arrangement, and 
strength of argument, was superior to most of his theological 
contemporaries. Archbishop Matthews says concerning him, 
" That Dr. Humphrey had read a greater number of the works of 
the fathers than Champion the Jesuit had ever seen; that he 
had devoured more than he had ever tasted, and taught more 
than he had ever read." Fuller gives him the character of a 
moderate and conscientious non-conformist; and Granger says, 
he was one of the greatest divines, and general scholars, of his 
age. He had the very singular honour of living to see many of 
his pupils become bishops; while he himself, exceedingly their 
superior in every respect, was denied any considerable prefer- 
ment, on account of his puritanical principles. Having served 
his generation by a life of hard study and useful labour in his 
Master's vineyard, he died in February 1589, in the sixty-third 
year of his age, and his remains were interred in the inner 
chapel belonging to Magdalen college, where a monumental in- 
scription was erected to his memory. 



WILLIAM FULKE, D. D. 

This puritan divine, much celebrated for his piety and 
learning, was born in London, and had his education in St. 
John's college, Cambridge, where he was chosen fellow in 1564, 
He was a high-spirited youth, of excellent parts; and when 
but a boy at school, he had a literary contest with Edmund 
Champion: and having lost the silver pen which was promised 
as the victor's reward, he could not suffer the idea of yielding 
to his antagonist; and the mortification he felt on this luckless 
occasion was almost inconceivable. Before he became fellow 
of his college, he spent six years at Clifford's inn in studying 
the law; but returning to the university, and not relishing the 
dry study of the law, he directed his attention to the study of 
other sciences more congenial to his inclination; for which his 



256 MEMOIR Of 

father was so exceedingly offended, that though possessed of 
great property, he would no longer support so rebellious a son. 
Young Fulke, who was by this time an excellent scholar, and 
of an enterprising genius, would not suffer his mind to sink in 
despondency, but resolved to persevere in his literary pursuits, 
and make his way in the world as well as he could. 

By his uncommon genius, and intense application to the 
study of the mathematics, the languages, and divinity, he soon 
became a most distinguished proficient in each of these high de- 
partments, and espoused the principles of the puritans at a very 
early period. In 1565 he preached openly and boldly against 
the popish ceremonies which had been incorporated with the 
church establishment. This roused the indignation of the rul- 
ing ecclesiastics, and Mr Fulke was forthwith cited before the 
chancellor of the university, where he appears to have been ex- 
pelled from the college for his puritan principles. But Mr 
Fulke immediately took lodgings in town, and supported him- 
self without the least difficulty, by delivering public lectures. 
Having, so early as 1569, obtained a most distinguished repu- 
tation, he was on the point of being elected master of St. John's 
college; when the jealous archbishop Parker, who thought it 
best to crush puritanism in the bud, interposed his authority, 
and prevented the election. On this occasion the carl of Lei- 
cester, a constant friend to the non-conformists, received him 
into his family? and made him his domestic chaplain. During 
the same year he was also charged witli being concerned in 
certain illegal marriages; but upon examination by the bishop 
of Ely, he was honourably acquitted, the charge having been 
proved a mere calumny; on which he presently recovered his 
reputation. While under this charge, he voluntarily resigned 
his fellowship; but so soon as his innocence was re-established, 
he was re-elected by the college. 

In 1571 the earl of Essex presented Dr. Fulke to the rectory 
of Warley in Essex, and shortly after to that of Kedington in 
Suffolk. About this time he took his doctor's degree at Cam- 
bridge, and was incorporated in the same at Oxford. The 
year following he attended the carl of Lincoln, then lord high 
admiral, as ambassador to the French court. On his return he 
was chosen master of Pembroke-hall, and professor of divinity 
in the university of Cambridge. 

Dr. Fulke was intimately acquainted with Mr Thomas Cart- 
wright, knew his abilities, and therefore joined with other 
learned divines in entreating him to answer the Rhemish Testa- 
ment; but finding that archbishop Whitegift had charged him 
not to proceed, he undertook to answer it himself. His work 
was entitled, A Confutation of the Rhemish Testament, 1589, 



WILLIAM FULKE. 25J 

in which he gave notice, that the reader might some time be 
favoured with a more complete answer from Mr Cartwright. 
What occasioned the publication of the Rhemish Testament 
was this: The English papists, in the seminary at Rheims, 
perceiving that the English translation of the scriptures by the 
protestants, then in general circulation, threatened to shake 
the faith of their laity with regard to many points of doctrine 
and discipline taught and exercised in the Roman church, re- 
solved, as Fuller expresses it, to fit them with a pair of false 
spectacles. Accordingly they prepared and published their trans- 
lation in opposition to the protestant versions. This Fulke un- 
dertook to refute, and very successfully accomplished his purpose. 
Of this admirable performance, which the celebrated Mi* Hervey 
calls a valuable piece of ancient controversy and criticism, 
full of sound divinity, weighty arguments, and important ob- 
servations : He says, " Would the young student wish to 
discover the very sinews of popery, and give an effectual blow 
to that complication of errors, I scarcely know a treatise better 
calculated for that purpose." 

In 1582 Dr. Fulke, and several other divines, were engaged 
in a public disputation with some papists in the tower, and 
here he had to contend with his old school-fellow, with whom 
he had formerly contended for the silver pen. He was author 
of a work, entitled, "A short and plain declaration of the wishes 
of all those faithful ministers who seek a reformation of the 
discipline of the church of England, which may serve for their 
apology against the false accusations and slanders of their ene- 
mies." Wood gives him the character of a good philosopher, 
and a pious and solid divine. Granger informs ns, that he ob- 
tained great celebrity by his writings against cardinal Allen, 
and Hiskins, Sanders, and Rastel, pillars of the popish super- 
stition, 1559. "Dr. Fulke (says he) was, for many years, a 
rigid puritan ; but getting the better of his principles, he made 
a near approach to the doctrine and discipline of the established 
church." But the approximation he made to the discipline of the 
established church, if indeed he made any, will be best traced 
from the works he has published, wherein he was ever in the 
habit of delivering his sentiments openly, and without reserve. 
Let the doctor therefore speak for himself. 

" For order (says he) and seemly government, there was one 
principal, to whom, from long custom in the church, the name of 
bishop was applied; yet, in the scriptures, a bishop and an eider 
are of one order and one authority; and in every church and 
congregation, says he, there should be an eldership, which 
ought to have the hearing, the examination, and the determin- 
ation of all matters pertaining to the discipline and government 

10 2 k 



258 MEMOIR OF 

of that congregation." Respecting the sign of the cross, he says, 
" Many speak of the cross in baptism, but they speak contrary 
to the book of God, and for that reason their arguments and 
sentiments are, and ought to be, rejected ; for the cross is not 
like the king's stamp, Christ appointed no such mark or seal to 
distinguish his servants." From these sentiments, and indeed 
from the tenor of his whole works, Mr Fulke was evidently a 
puritan in his views of the discipline and rites of the established 
church. 

Having spent a life of much labour and usefulness in the 
service of God and his generation, this celebrated preacher of 
righteousness rested from his labours in the month of August 
1589, and his remains were interred in the chancel of the church 
of Kedington, where a monumental inscription was afterwards 
erected to his memory. 



EDWARD SNAPE. 

This determined non-conformist most probably had his 
education at Cambridge: afterwards he was minister at St. 
Peter's, Northampton, a laborious preacher, and a powerful ad- 
vocate for a farther reformation of the established church. He 
did not consider himself as possessing all the authority of a mi- 
nister of the gospel, till he had the call of the people over whom 
he was to preside; and his parishioners, learning this, imme- 
diately set about electing him for their minister. 

In 1575 Mr Snape and Mr Cartwright were invited to the 
islands of Jersey and Guernsey, to assist the ministers of those 
places to frame a code of regulations for the order and govern- 
ment of their churches. They were both distinguished for 
learning and talents, and laboured, with unwearied persever- 
ance, to reduce the discipline of the church to the New Testa- 
ment standard. After having effected a harmonious settlement 
of those churches, Mr Snape returned to England, and preach- 
ed the gospel, for some time, in the diocese of Exeter, where 
Mr Eusebius Paget, and Mr John Holmes, were labouring to 
promote the true religion, and by their faithful and frequent 
sermons, and other ministerial services, were become a great 
blessing to the place. Mr Snape, soon after, returned to his 
parishioners at Northampton, where, it is probable, he continu- 
ed for a number of years. In 1586 he united with the puritan 
brethren in subscribing the Book of Discipline; and, in 1590, 
being a zealous and active member of the puritan associations 
held in Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, and other counties, 
he was convened before the court of high commission. Here 



EDWARD SNAPE. 259 

he was charged with having in his possession a certain book, 
entitled, A defence of the Ecclesiastical Discipline : That he 
refused to baptize a child unless it was called by some scripture 
name : That, in the public service of the church, he did not 
read the confession, absolutions, psalms, lessons, and litany, 
with some other portions of the common prayer book : That he 
had renounced his calling to the ministry by episcopal ordina- 
tion, and urged others to do the same. 

For these, and similar crimes, Mr Snape, and many of his 
brethren, were cited before the high commission at Lambeth, 
and required to take the oath ex officio. This they perempto- 
rily refused, unless they were permitted to see and consider the 
questions to be answered. Mr Snape's letters having been in- 
tercepted, they were produced as evidence against him. He, 
nevertheless, refused to answer, considering it contrary to rea- 
son and common justice, the laws both of God and man, to 
force any individual to become their own accuser; he was there- 
fore instantly sent to prison. Whether he persevered in refus- 
ing the oath is not so certain, only that he answered a number of 
the questions put to him; this, however, he might have done 
without taking the oath. " With respect to my calling to the 
ministry (says he), I affirm that I had it of the church of God, in 
being approved by the godly and learned divines in the neigh- 
bourhood, and chosen by the people of my charge. As for the book 
of common prayer, I will use it only in as far as it is corrobo- 
rated by the word of God; and if it can be proven to me, by 
sound argument from the book of God, that no part thereof 
ought to be introduced into the service of Ihe church, I will 
cease to use it at all. As for the calling of elders to take part 
in the discipline of the church, I promise to use all lawful means 
to effect so desirable a purpose. Respecting obedience to the 
bishops, I will not yield myself subject to any ecclesiastic juris- 
diction claimed by them. To whatever civil power they may 
possess, I promise, however, my cordial and ready obedience : 
But to surcease or surrender my ministry, I will not, though 
inhibited by the bishop, providing the major part of the com- 
municants of my congregation shall require the continuance 
thereof, and will also bind themselves to afford me a competent 
support; with this, and the approbation of the godly neighbour- 
ing ministers, come bonds or liberty, I will not surcease. In 
one word, whatever I use in my ministry, which shall be proved 
unlawful by the word of God, and whatever I use not, and 
ought to use, so proved by the scriptures of truth, I will, with 
God's help, renounce the former, and exercise the latter." He 
also acknowledged, that he moved the mayor of Northampton to 
join with other towns in petitioning the queen to grant them a 



^60 MEMOIR OF 

more pure and equal ecclesiastical discipline : That he joined 
with the association at Warwick when they declared against 
private baptism, reading apocryphal books and homilies in the 
church, communicating with unlawful ministers, the govern- 
ment of bishops and archbishops, and for the erection of a more 
primitive mode of discipline. He was, moreover, charged with 
using the following expressions : " I pray God to strengthen 
our faith, and arm us with patience; and then let the devil and 
his deputies, the bishops, do what they can. In the meantime, 
let us take our pennyworths of them, and not die in their 
debt." 

At one of Mr Snape's examinations, the following interroga- 
tion was put : " Have you, at any time, said and signified this, 
What would you think, should we devise a method to throw off 
the whole yoke and government of the bishops, and erect a sys- 
tem of church government that they shall never be able to over- 
turn, and all in one day, but peradventure not for a year to 
come ?" 

After having suffered eleven months close imprisonment, Mr 
Snape joined, with many others under similar oppression, in 
supplicating the lord treasurer to be admitted to bail. On this 
occasion Whitegift sent them a form of submission, which they 
unanimously rejected; but when he was liberated we are not 
able to ascertain. While Mr Snape was in prison, and his 
means wholly exhausted by his long confinement, his keeper, 
finding he had nothing farther to expect from his impoverished 
prisoner, used him very unkindly. The good man, one day 
his chamber window being open, was much, though agreeably 
surprised, when he arose from his devotion, to find on the 
floor a purse full of gold, which had been thrown into his 
chamber. This very extraordinary, and altogether unexpected 
supply, not only answered all his present necessities, but also 
procured for him a very different mode of treatment from his 
unfeeling and avaricious gaoler. 



RICHARD GREENHAM, A. M. 

This faithful steward of the bread of life was born about 
the year 1531, and educated at Pembroke-hal], Cambridge, 
where he took his degrees in arts, and became fellow. On 
leaving the university, he became pastor of the congregation at 
Drayton, near Cambridge, where, for many years, he laboured, 
with unremitting ardour, for the instruction and salvation of 
perishing sinners. He was so diligent a student, that, winter 
or summer, his custom was to rise by four o'clock. He always 



RICHARD GREENHAM. 26 1 

preached twice on Sabbath, and catechised the young people of 
his parish; and usually preached four times during the week, 
and catechised once. For the convenience of his people, these 
week-day services were performed early in the morning. He 
was more concerned to be serviceable to his flock than to ob- 
tain any worldly consideration whatever. His liberality to the 
poor was frequently exercised beyond the proportion of his 
means, so that his family were sometimes reduced to great 
want. 

Mr Greenham was celebrated for promoting peace amongst 
his people, and laboured for the peace of the church. He was 
a most conscientious non-conformist, choosing, on all occasions, 
rather to suffer than sacrifice the peace of his own conscience; 
and though ever cautious in speaking of the church, lest he 
should give offence, he was suspended from his ministry, because 
he would not subscribe the prayer book, and wear the habits of 
idolatry. He considered all ceremonies, introduced into the 
church without the warrant of scripture, of mischievous con- 
sequence, ever productive of superstition, and therefore by all 
means to be avoided : And to subscribe to any thing but the 
scripture, or what is obviously drawn from that sacred volume, 
he had determined, at all hazards, to resist. 

Being called before the bishop of Ely on a complaint of non- 
conformity, he discovered his prudence, peaceable disposition, 
and great good sense. His lordship, observing that there exist- 
ed in the church a great and deplorable schism, asked Mr 
Greenham where the blame rested, Whether with the conform- 
ists or the non-conformists ? To which he readily replied, it 
might with either or neither; for, said he, if both parties loved 
each other as in duty bound, and did reciprocal acts of kindness 
to one another as religion enjoins, the blame would rest on 
neither side; but whichsoever deviates from this sacred rule, 
are assuredly the blame-worthy party. The bishop is said to 
have been so well pleased with this answer, that he dismissed 
him in peace. Mr Greenham subscribed the book of discipline 
along with his reforming brethren. 

Having laboured in the ministry at Drayton about twenty- 
one years, he removed to London, and became minister at 
Christ-church, where he finished his labours in about two years 
thereafter, and died a most comfortable death in 1591, aged 
sixty years. Fuller says concerning him, That he was an 
avowed enemy to all non-residents, and wondered how such 
men could find any enjoyment of their wealth, on every article 
of which they may see written, in legible characters, this is the 
price of blood ! 

According to the same author, his life and conversation was 



26°2 MEMOIR OF 

more than ordinarily correct. He was a strict observer of the 
Lord's day, and wrote a treatise on the Sabbath, than which no 
book had ever made a deeper impression on the minds of the 
people, or so greatly promoted the observance of that sacred 
day throughout the kingdom. Mr Strype denominates him a 
pious minister of Christ, but strongly opposed to the rites and 
ceremonies of the church established by law. His works, in- 
cluding sermons, treatises, and a commentary on Psalm cxix, 
were published at different times, but collected and re -published, 
in one volume folio, in the year 1601. Bishop Wilkins speaks 
of his works with high commendation; he classes his sermons 
with the first of his time, and considers his commentary an ad- 
mirable performance for the age in which it was written, both 
for style and method, and, like all his other works, full of 
spiritual instruction. 



GILES WIGGINTON. 

This distinguished sufferer in the cause of a pure reforma- 
tion from the dregs of popish superstition, was born at Oundle 
in Northamptonshire, educated in Trinity college, Cambridge, 
and, in 1566, made second scholar in the college. He was 
afterward chosen fellow of the house, though much against the 
inclination of Dr. Whitegift, who opposed his election with all 
his power and influence. He took his degree of arts in 1571, 
having gained the reputation of a proficient in the knowledge of 
divinity, Greek, and Hebrew. 

Some few years after this, having completed his studies at 
the university, he was presented to the vicarage of Sedburgh, 
in the north-riding of Yorkshire; but being a zealous puritan, 
his sufferings in the common cause were shamefully severe. 
In the year 1581, archbishop Sandys wrote to the bishop of 
Chester, in whose diocese Mr Wigginton officiated, and thus 
animadverted on his character and conduct. " Your lordship 
(says he) ought to administer a little necessary admonition and 
instruction to Mr Wigginton, a young man very far out of 
frame, who, in my opinion, will not accept of you as his ordin- 
ary or bishop; nor would I, in your place, accept of him as a 
preacher in my diocese. He labours, it is true, labours hard, 
not however to build up, but to pull down, and, by every 
method he can devise, to overturn and destroy the state eccle- 
siastic." 

Being afterwards in London, he was appointed, in 1584, to 
preach before the judges in St. Dunstan's church; when White- 
gift, archbishop of Canterbury, being apprised of his appoint- 



GILES WIGGINTON. 263 

merit, sent a pursuivant to his lodgings in the dead of night, 
who, finding Wigginton in hed, forbade him to preach accord- 
ing to his appointment, and demanded his bond for appearing 
next day at Lambeth; all which was done without any written 
warrant. Upon his appearance at Lambeth, he refused the oath 
ex officio, by which he was to answer whatever questions they 
chose to propose, lest they should tend to criminate either himself 
or others. This oath he positively refused; and the archbishop, 
as usual on such occasions, reviled him with epithets altogether 
nnbecoming the pretended gravity of a bishop; and having dis- 
gorged his fulsome abuse, committed him to the Gatehouse 
prison, where he remained about nine weeks. At the termination 
of which period, this merciful prelate gave him a specimen of 
his canonical admonition, in charging him not to preacli in his 
province without farther licence. 

In 1585, one Middleton, suspected to be in principle a papist, 
and otherwise a man of very exceptionable character, informed 
against him; on which Whitegift gave orders to the archbishop 
of York to proceed against Mr Wigginton to the extent of the 
canon law. Accordingly he was cited before Chadderton, 
bishop of Chester, where twelve charges were exhibited against 
him. The result of this summary process was, that Wigginton 
was deprived of his ministry, and one Colecloth, a minister of 
immoral character, put in his place. By the influence and fa- 
vour of several high characters, he was, nevertheless, after 
some time restored. 

In 1586, being in London, he was again apprehended by 
Whitegift's pursuivants, and carried before his grace at Lam- 
beth; when refusing, as formerly, to accuse himself, he was 
committed to the White-lion prison, where he was treated with 
unfeeling barbarity. There, by the positive orders of the arch- 
bishop, he was so loaded with irons, confined in a close prison, 
destitute of air, exercise, and necessary food, that in about five 
weeks, he says himself, he was almost dead. In this deplorable 
case Wigginton wrote to certain men of quality, imploring their 
interest and influence to obtain his deliverance. In this letter, 
dated White-lion, June 1st, 1586, he thus expresses himself: 
" My desire is, that you make my deplorable situation known 
to her majesty's honourable privy council, or to her majesty 
herself, that the cause of my imprisonment may be investigated, 
and myself rescued from the hands of my persecutors. Con- 
scious of my innocence, I crave no mercy, I demand justice. 
My old adversary, the archbishop, treats me more like a Turk 
or a dog, than a man or a minister of Jesus Christ." 

In the meantime, his life being considered in imminent dan- 
ger, he was sent to another prison in London, and some time 



264 MEMOIR OF 

after brought again to Lambeth, where still refusing to 
answer, he was abused by Whitegift, suspended from preach- 
ing in his province, and sent to the archbishop of York for 
his final deprivation. Owing to the extremity of his sickness, 
he was obliged to remain some time in London; and when 
the physicians considered him in a hopeless state, he was again 
commanded to appear before Whitegift at Lambeth; but this 
being impossible, the sentence of deprivation, and also of de- 
gradation, were passed upon him in his absence. After his 
health had been somewhat restored, Mr Wigginton returned to 
Sedburgh, where he offered himself to preach in the church, 
but was refused the pulpit; he therefore preached wherever 
he could find an opportunity, attended always with a very 
large assembly. Conceiving himself to be the pastor set over them 
by the Lord, he still administered the sacraments to the peo- 
ple; which, when Whitegift came to understand, he instigated 
Sandys to send forth an attachment against him, addressed to 
all justices, mayors, sheriffs, bailiffs, constables, and all others, 
her majesty's officers within the province of York, or any of 
them, to apprehend him, and commit him to the castle of Lan- 
caster, in the province of York. Accordingly, Mr Wigginton 
was arrested at Boroughbridge some short time after, and car- 
ried to the castle of Lancaster, fifty miles distant, in the middle 
of a cold and severe winter, wliere he was shut up in close 
prison amongst felons and condemned criminals, and used with 
more severity than either them or the recusant papists. From 
this prison he sent an account of his case and situation to Sir 
Walter Mildmay, his patron, who was at this time one of the 
privy council, soliciting his interference in his behalf. 

We are not able to ascertain what effect was produced by this 
application, or how long Wigginton was prisoner at this time, only 
that, in about two years after, that is, in December 1588, being 
in London, the archbishop's pursuivant apprehended him at his 
lodgings while in bed, and carried him again to Lambeth, on 
suspicion of being one of the authors of a publication, entitled, 
Martin Mar-prelate. He was brought before the archbishop, 
the bishop of Winchester, Drs. Aubery, Cosin, Goodman, and 
other members of the court of high commission, where he was 
examined on the following points : 

Archbishop. There is book, a vile, seditious, and intolerable 
book, called Martin Mar-prelate, and you are suspected to be 
one of its authors; you must therefore swear what you know 
concerning it. 

Wigginton. You do well, my lord, to let me know what I 
have to swear to; but let me also know who are my accusers, 
for I have no mind to accuse myself. 



GILES WIGGINTON. 265 

Arch. We will take your answers without your oath. What 
say you to the following articles ? Have you any of these books, 
or have you at any time read them, or heard any part of 
them read ? 

Wig. I will not answer to accuse myself; you know my 
mind on this point already; hut let my accusers stand forward 
and proceed against me according to justice and the laws of 
the land. 

Arch. Have you had any of them, and how many ? How 
came you by them ? What did you with them ? In whose 
hands are they, and by whose means did you obtain them ? 

Wig. I would sooner accuse myself than others; but I will 
accuse neither. Prove your allegations by proper witnesses, 
and proceed against me by the laws of God and the realm. 

Arch. Have you bought, sold, given, dispersed, handled, or 
any way dealt in them; and in what manner have you done so? 

Wig. I account it as unnatural for me to accuse myself, as 
to thrust a knife into my flesh. The matter, I understand, is 
attended with danger; I shall therefore forbear, and accuse 
neither myself nor any other person. In the mouth of two or 
three witnesses let every word be established. The heathen 
judge said, I will hear thee when thine accusers are come; and 
shall a christian judge, and a minister of the gospel of righte- 
ousness and peace, command me to accuse myself? Relinquish, 
for shame ! such tyrannical usurpation of power over thy fellow- 
servants. 

Arch. Whom do you believe, think, suspect, or conjecture, 
to be the author, writer, or printer of it, or any part of it; or 
did you make any oath or vow, or promise to conceal the 
same ? 

Wig. Whatever I believe, think, suspect, or conjecture, or 
have sworn, vowed, or promised, I am not bound to make 
known. I answer, therefore, as before, I would rather accuse 
myself than my neighbour. 

Arch. There are many lies in Martin. 

Wig. It becomes you, then, to refute them if you can. 

The examination is too long, and little interesting ; the above 
will suffice for a specimen of this inquisitorial court. 

Having finished their examination, and finding Mr Wiggin- 
ton inflexible, he was removed till they should consult what 
was to be done; after which he was again brought before them, 
when Whitegift thus addressed him : " Forasmuch as you have 
refused to swear and answer as required, and in so doing have 
confessed yourself guilty, according to law, of the charges laid 
against you. And as you have, at sundry times, and in diverse 
manners, evidenced the contempt you bear to our ecclesiastic 

10 2l 



266 MEMOIR OF 

authority, and to this our high commission, with which the 
queen has entrusted and empowered us to act for her behoof, 
which authority you shall obey before you and I have done : 
Your former enlargement shall be withdrawn. You shall also 
be kept a close prisoner in the Gatehouse, till such time as you 
feel yourself disposed to yield to our authority; and so soon as 
you find yourself thus inclined, you may send us word. In 
the meantime, go your way. Away with him, pursuivant !" 
He was accordingly carried to the Gatehouse prison, where, 
notwithstanding that much interest was made for his release, it 
was all to no purpose. Mr Wigginton was an able minister, 
and a very learned and pious divine. At what time he procur- 
ed his liberty is uncertain. He was alive in the year 1591. 



HUMPHREY FENN. 

This reverend and learned divine was minister at Nor- 
thampton for several years, and more than forty a faithful la- 
bourer in the church at Coventry, yet met he with many and 
severe oppressions for his non-conformity. While at Northamp- 
ton, he was apprehended and committed to close confinement, 
and that for a long period; during which the inhabitants of 
that town presented a humble petition for restoring him to his 
liberty and the exercise of his office. It is not evident what 
was the result of this application in his behalf; but it is most 
probable he never returned to Northampton. Having at length 
procured his liberty, it would appear that he commenced his 
ministerial labours at Coventry. The oppressed puritans, 
anxious to be relieved from the galling fetters with which they 
had long been bound, Mr Fenn was unanimously chosen, by the 
puritan ministers in London, to accompany the earl of Leices- 
ter, in laying a statement of their sufferings and their requests 
before those in public authority; but with what success this was 
attended we are unable to give any account. Mr Fenn, how- 
ever, consented, saying, " That he was ever ready to run when 
the church commanded him." This conscientious puritan ac- 
counted it highly improper to receive the sacrament from the 
hands of a dumb, that is, an unpreaching clergyman, or to at- 
tend the service of the church where there was no sermon 
used. 

Upon the persecutions that followed the publication of 
Whitegift's three articles, he was cited to appear at Lambeth 
before the archbishop, when he was urged, by many arguments, 
to subscribe; all which he answered, giving cogent reasons for 
Ills refusal : But his reasons not satisfying the commissioners, 



HUMPHREY FENN. tyfiTj 

he remained a long time in prison, during which period his 
flock was totally neglected. But it appears from his own let- 
ter to the archbishop, that the earl of Leicester had spoken in 
his behalf, so that he was at length restored to his ministry at 
Coventry, where, though he might probably enjoy peace for a 
season, his persecutors were not yet done with him. In the 
year 1591, an information was exhibited against him, and 
many of his brethren, for being concerned in the puritan clas- 
ses, attending their associations, and subscribing their book of 
discipline. Accordingly, they were all apprehended and com- 
mitted to prison. These conscientious sufferers, during their 
confinement, presented a long letter to the queen, dated April 
1592, wherein, at great length, they refuted the calumnies 
brought against them by ignorant or evil-designing men, and 
vindicated the propriety of their conduct under the circum- 
stances with which they were environed. But how long after 
this time they remained in prison is uncertain. On Mr Fenn's 
release, it appears he returned to Coventry, where he remained 
the rest of his days, and died in a firm attachment to those 
principles for which he so severely suffered, and which he so 
heroicly defended. Mr Clark says concerning him, that he was 
famous for his ministry, and also for his non-conformity, in the 
city of Coventry; and that, in his last will and testament, he 
so fully and openly protested against the hierarchy and cere- 
monies of the national church, that when his will came to be 
proved, the prelates, or those of their party, would not suffer it 
to have a place amongst the records of the court. 



JOHN MORE. 

This learned and zealous servant of Christ was fellow of 
Christ-college, Cambridge, where it is most likely he received 
his education. After leaving the university, he became a most 
useful, indefatigable, and popular preacher at St. Andrew's 
church, in the city of Norwich, and had an ample share of the 
prelatical persecution of that period. He refused to wear the 
surplice, particularly because it was grievously offensive to great 
numbers, both of pious ministers and people, in and around 
the city of Norwich. When convened before the bishop of the 
diocese to answer for his non-conformity, the bishop told him, 
that it was much better to offend a few private persons, than to 
offend God, and disobev his prince. His lordship, however, 
was loath to exercise any severities against him. " I am not 
aware (says he) that he has at any time spoken against her ma- 
jesty's book of injunctions; nor do I find him, in any respect, 



268 MEMOIR OF 

stubborn, and he is most assuredly a godly and learned man, and 
has done much good in this city." The public contest he main- 
tained against the famous Dr. Pern of Cambridge, shows how 
zealous he was in promoting and defending the purity and evan- 
gelical simplicity of the gospel of Christ; and it was a heavy 
affliction to all godly and serious people, to see a divine, pos- 
sessed of such excellent ministerial qualifications, interrupted in 
the exercise of his ministry. 

But the prelates imposed their ceremonies upon the clergy 
with so much rigour, that Mr More, and his brethren in and 
about Norwich, foreseeing that the storm was fast gathering 
around them, endeavoured to ward it off, by presenting a hum- 
ble petition to the lords of the council. This declaration and 
supplication was dated 25th September 1576. It states, in sub- 
stance, that they were ready to sacrifice their lives and their 
property in the service of their prince; yet they durst not yield 
to her majesty's intended conformity. And having enlarged on 
the manifold evils attending such rigorous and tyrannical im- 
positions, and the alarming consequences that were likely to en- 
sue, they conclude by stating, that there are already nineteen 
or twenty exercises of preaching and catechising put down by 
silencing the ministers of this city, Norwich. We therefore 
humbly crave your assistance, both with our prince and the 
bishops; and may the Lord God direct your honours in this af- 
fair, and in all your other concerns, that they may tend to the 
good of his church, and the peace and prosperity of our native 
land. 



John More, 
Richard Crick, 
Thomas Roberts, 



George Leeds, 
Richard Dowe, 
William Hart.' : 



Concerning the life, labours, and character of Mr More, 
Granger states, that he was about twenty years minister of St. 
Andrew's in Norwich, where he was highly esteemed for the 
universality of his knowledge in the sciences, his uncommon 
proficiency in the learned languages, and, above all, for his ex- 
tensive learning and indefatigable labours as a minister of the 
gospel. He constantly preached thrice every Lord's day, and 
was much admired for his talent in that department of his min- 
isterial labours. He refused several considerable preferments, 
where the duty was much less laborious than that of his cure at 
Norwich, merely because he conceived that his labours would 
be more serviceable in that city. The same author, in describ- 
ing the different modes of dress in that period, says, that Mr 
More, one of the worthiest clergymen in the reign of Elizabeth, 
wore the longest and the largest beard of any Englishman in 
his time, and gave the best reason that ever was given for so 



JOHN MORE. 269 

doing, namely, that it might be an inducement so to conduct 
himself, that no act of his life might seem unworthy of the 
gravity of his appearance. Dr. Ames says concerning him, 
that he was a most heavenly man, the light and glory of the 
church. And Fuller includes him in the number of the learn- 
ed writers of Christ-college, Cambridge; and that he made an 
excellent map of Palestine. He died in the year 1592. 



THOMAS SAMSON, D. D. 

This singularly honest and inflexible non-conforming 
divine was born about 1517, and educated at the university of 
Oxford; after which he studied at the Temple, became a zeal- 
ous reformer, a celebrated preacher, and instrumental in con- 
verting John Bradford, the famous martyr, to the protestant 
faith. He was ordained by archbishop Cranmer and bishop 
Ridley, and highly esteemed by these two reverend prelates, 
who, at his earnest request, dispensed with the habits on that 
occasion. In 1551 he became rector of All-hallows, Bread 
Street, London; and during the following year was preferred 
to the deanery of Winchester, where he continued till the death 
of king Edward, highly esteemed as a preacher. After the ac- 
cession of queen Mary he concealed himself for some time; 
and, together with Richard Chambers, another zealous protes- 
tant, collected money in London for the support and encourage- 
ment of some poor protestant scholars in the two universities. 
But this was no sooner known to the prelates, than they were 
both obliged to flee for their lives. On the 16th August 1554, 
Bradford, Bacon, and Veron, were committed to the tower, and 
Samson, it was intended, should accompany thein, but evaded 
their search. Having thus narrowly escaped from the malice 
of his enemies, Samson fled to Strasburg, where he was much 
esteemed by the learned Tremelius. He was intimately ac- 
quainted with most of the learned English exiles; and during 
his residence on the continent, he assisted in writing and pub- 
lishing the Geneva translation of the bible. When Elizabeth 
mounted the throne, Samson returned to England, and soon 
after was offered the bishoprick of Norwich; which he refused 
to accept, because he was altogether dissatisfied with the epis- 
copal office, the popish habits, and their idolatrous ceremonies. 
During the three first years of the reign of Elizabeth he deliv- 
ered the rehearsal sermons at Paul's cross, and is said to have 
been appointed to this service on account of his fine elocution, 
and other rhetorical qualifications. He also accompanied the 
queen, as lier preacher, in her royal visitation to the north. 



270 MEMOIR OF 

In 1560 he became dean of Christ-church, Oxford. To pro- 
cure his settlement in this public situation, the members of the 
house wrote to lord Dudley, urging him to prevail upon the 
queen to nominate Samson. In this letter, which was subscrib- 
ed by twenty-two persons, distinguished for their learning, it is 
stated, that after well considering all the learned men in the 
kingdom, they found none worthy to be compared with Dr. 
Samson, for singular learning and great piety, having also the 
praise of all men : That it was indeed a matter of doubt whe- 
ther there was a better man, a greater linguist, a more com- 
plete scholar, or a deeper divine. Afterwards Dr. Samson, 
Dr. Laurence Humphrey, and Mr Kingsmill, all staunch puri- 
tans, were the only protestant preachers in the university of 
Oxford. Dr. Samson sat in the convocation of 1562, and sub- 
scribed the thirty-nine articles of the English church. About 
this time a paper of requests was presented to the commons, 
chiefly relating to matters of church government, in respect 
of which, the requesters desired exemption in a number of im- 
portant particulars. Samson's name is amongst the subscrip- 
tions of this paper; but after much discussion, it was rejected 
by the house. 

Soon after this, Samson's objections to the habits and cere- 
monies became known at court, and secretary Cecil urged him 
to conform, and not give offence by his disobedience, adding, 
that obedience was more acceptable than sacrifice. To this 
Samson replied, in a letter, to the following import : 

" That the law of God commanded all idols to be destroyed, 
with all the ceremonies and appurtinances pertaining to idolatry. 
And we find that the godly and reforming kings of Judah de- 
stroyed their altars, brake down their groves, and annihilated 
the most apparently insignificant relics, as well as the idols 
themselves: That Christ, in forming the New Testament 
church, did not use the pharisaical ceremonies, or recommend 
them to his disciples, but reproved them, and warned his dis- 
ciples to avoid them : Therefore all ceremonies devised and prac- 
tised by idolatrous papists ought to be rejected, prohibited, de- 
stroyed. And when men in authority command otherwise, he, 
who by following the direction of the Spirit of God in his word, 
notwithstanding that he is accounted disobedient by men, really 
and only yields that obedience, which, in the sight of God, is bet- 
ter and more acceptable than the most costly sacrifice." 

That these were only a part of the reasons he had for acting 
as he did: And seeing he put no restraint on others to violate 
their consciences, but left them to the Lord, who alone is com-? 
petent to decide on the opinions of his creatures; so his desire 
was to be left to the same unfettered exercise of his judgments 



THOMAS SAMSON. 271 

In 1564, Dr. Samson, and his friend Dr. Humphrey, were 
cited before the high commission court at Lambeth, where he 
suffered deprivation, and was removed from the university. 
Some of the learned lawyers were, however, of opinion, that 
his deprivation was illegal, and that the commissioners were in- 
volved in a premunire. Besides being deprived of his bene- 
fice, he was also subjected to long and rigorous imprisonment. 
In the year 1573 he was struck on the one side by the dead 
palsy; and having, for some short time prior to this, en- 
joyed the lecture at Whittington college, London, for which 
he received ten pounds a year, he resigned it into the hands 
of his patrons. It was in the gift of the company of cloth- 
workers, to whom he recommended Edward Deering, whom 
they chose for his successor. But Mr Deering being also 
silenced for his non-conformity, Parker utterly refused his 
allowance. Deering was a man of great learning, exemplary 
piety, and an excellent preacher: and the benefice being so 
small, it shows the spirit of severity that actuated this dignified 
prelate. 

In the month of March this year, Dr. Samson sent a letter 
to the lord treasurer, Burleigh, signifying that God had been 
pleased to deprive him of the use of half his limbs, though not 
of his understanding, which he considered as the herbinger of 
death; but before his heavenly Father called him home, he was 
constrained, he said, once more to trouble his lordship, and to 
solicit him to use his best endeavours to promote the necessary 
reformation of the church. t; My lord (says he), it is not 
enough that the doctrines of the gospel are preached in the 
church of England, while the government of the church, as set 
forth in that same gospel, is altogether wanting. The doctrine 
and the government, as appointed by Christ, are both good, 
both necessarily connected together, and no consideration of 
human policy can ever justify their separation. What an un- 
seemly thing, what a horrid deformity, is it, to see a church, 
professing the gospel, and preaching the doctrines of Christ, 
yet ruled and governed by canons, customs, ceremonies, and 
superstitions, traditions, and legendary tales, invented by anti- 
christ, the adversary and public opposer of Christ and his bless- 
ed evangel. On this subject Martin Bucer wrote a book to 
king Edward, entitled, De Regno Christi. There you will see 
what is wanting in the church of England to constitute her a 
corresponding department of the kingdom of Christ. My 
lord, I beseech you to read this faithful and brief epitome of 
said book which I have sent you; and I beseech you to lay it to 
heart, it is the cause of Christ and his church, and of the first 
importance to the souls of sinful men, Ah ! my lord, use your 



T/% MEMOIR OF 

utmost endeavours, that as Christ teacheth us in the church of 
England, he may also rule and govern us by the mild and mer- 
ciful laws of his kingdom. Help, my lord, in this good and 
gracious work of your God. In so doing you will serve him 
who is King of kings, who will not fail^to make a public ac- 
knowledgment of your labour of love, when kings, lords, and 
beggars, shall stand before him undistinguished but by their 
virtues." To this advice the treasurer replied, that he much 
approved of what had been recommended, but found it impos- 
sible to realize his pious desires. But Dr. Samson, in return, put 
him in mind how much good he had done at the commencement 
of the reformation, and that his power was much enlarged since 
that period, and that the present state of the church was as 
needful as ever of his friendly exertions in her behalf. 

In the following year he wrote to Grindal, his old acquaint- 
ance, and fellow-exile in the land of strangers, but now the 
dignified archbishop of York. Several letters passed between 
them about this time. Dr. Samson reminds the bishop of his 
former low condition, and cautions him against being lifted up 
with his present elevated situation and title. Grindal, who was 
a very different character from many of the dignified clergy of 
that period, in respect of his candour and moderation, told him, 
in reply, " That he put no value on his title of lord; that his 
chief care was to discharge the duties of his office with faithful- 
ness till his Lord should come." Samson, in reply to this, 
says, " If you are not lordly, nor value your lordly title, as you 
tell me, and I trust in truth and sincerity, shall I call you a 
phoenix ? If you, whom worldly policy alone could induce to 
become a lord, nevertheless continue a loving brother, and hum- 
ble minister and servant of Christ and his little and despised 
flock, I must say, that the special grace of God has most hap- 
pily preserved you from the snares and temptations of this un- 
happy period, when most men mind their own interest, honour, 
and authority, and few the things that are of Jesus Christ. 
And yet, methinks, your state, your port, your train of waiting- 
men in the streets, your gentleman-usher walking bareheaded 
before you, your numerous band of idle domestics, with all the 
other glittering appendages of your large establishment, have a 
very lordly-looking appearance. Perhaps the same policy 
which made you a lord, charges you also with all this lordly 
state; but doth the Lord Jesus, who has commanded, that he 
who aspires to power in his church shall be servant of all, 
Has he charged you with all this unprofitable magnificence ? 
I true not. But even, independent of all this, such a number 
of idle-serving men are not only unprofitable, they are also 
utterly unsuitable to the state and sphere of operations in which 



THOMAS SAMSON. 9,^3 

the servant of Christ ought to move and to labour; and most 
assuredly such idlers should not be supported by the patri- 
mony of the church, which has been devoted to the more im- 
portant purposes of hiring labourers to toil in the Lord's vine- 
yard, and to relieve the necessities of the poor of his people. 
This, my lord, is one of the great evils that popery has left be- 
hind her in our church of England." Grindal, in his letter, 
had expressed his pity for the doctor's poverty and lameness. 
In answer to which he says, " I have no recollection of having 
ever complained either of the one or the other : If I did of the 
first, I was to blame; for in that case I must have complained 
before I suffered want. And as for my lameness, I am so far 
from complaining, that I thank God for it. He might have 
smitten me so as to destroy me; but in his merciful kindness 
he has spared me, and as a loving Father dealt very tenderly 
with me; for which, with a grateful heart, I praise his blessed 
name. If he has any farther service for me in his church he 
will heal me; and if otherwise, may he give me grace to say 
with Eli, ' It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good/ 
Though I am in bonds, these bonds have been put upon me by 
the tender hand of a Father; and were it put to my choice, I 
would carry them cheerfully to my grave, rather than exchange 
them for a lordly bishoprick." 

Soon after receiving the paralytic shock that occasioned his 
lameness, Dr. Samson was presented to the mastership of the 
hospital at Leicester, whither he retired, and spent the rest of 
his days. Here he was of signal service to the foundation, in 
retrieving its immunities and endowments; an honourable ac 
count of which is given at length in Strype's Annals. He was 
intimately acquainted with all the leading puritans, with most 
of whom he kept up a correspondence. In 1584 he was con- 
cerned in presenting a supplication to the queen, the council, 
and the parliament, for a farther reformation of the church. 
This supplication enumerates many grievances still retained, 
and, for many cogent reasons therein specified, humbly solicits 
a peaceful and speedy redress. To this supplication T)r. Sam- 
son prefixed an address, in which, among other complaints, he 
says, " We have not vigilant, able, and faithful pastors resident 
amongst us, to teach us the word of God, by preaching and 
catechising. We have some kind of pastors, it is true, but 
many of them do not reside on their benefices; some of them 
licenced to two, and others to three, benefices. Were our 
bishops inclined to remedy this great evil, we should have the 
less reason to complain; but in place of this, they appoint men 
to watch over their flocks, who can only read to us from a 
printed book the lessons appointed for them to read ; and some 

10 2 m 



274 MEMOIR OF 

of tliem perform this service so wretchedly, that they caw 
scarcely be understood. Pastors are commanded to feed the 
flock of God over which the Holy Ghost has made them over- 
seers; and surely it must be a preposterous, as well as a pre- 
sumptuous thing, thus to ordain men for pastors who are des- 
titute of every pre-requisite qualification. The pastors who 
have the sanction of Jesus Christ, are such as can feed his peo- 
ple with knowledge and understanding; such only did he send 
forth, and such alone did his apostles recognize — men apt to 
teach, and qualified rightly to divide and distribute the word of 
truth, that by sound doctrine they might convince the gainsay- 
ers. We might, says he, further urge this our complaint, from 
the consideration, that the faithful and well qualified teachers 
amongst us, scarce as they are, meet with the most unaccount- 
able discouragement. Numbers of them have been already dis- 
placed and silenced, not [because they do not teach us plainly 
and faithfully, but because they cannot conscientiously conform 
to the unprofitable ceremonies which men have devised, for 
purposes very different from the instruction of the ignorant., 
and such as are gone out of the way. 

" We therefore most humbly beseech your highness and your 
honours, to consider that this hard usage of our pastors brings 
us into great distress. Consider that we stand in much need 
of men who are both able and willing to instruct us in the 
paths of religion and godliness; but we have no need whatever 
of these idle ceremonies, which tend nothing towards our edifi- 
cation. By silencing our pastors who would feed us with the 
knowledge of God's word, and substituting in their place igno- 
rant readers, furnished with unprofitable ceremonies, what is it 
but to withdraw from our lips that bread of life which God has 
prepared for the nourishment of our souls, and to set before us 
empty husks that swine would starve on ? We are thoroughly 
convinced, however, that when the bishops thus deprive and 
silence our preaching pastors, so that they dare not teach us the 
will of our God, they undertake to do that for which they will 
one day be called to account." 

Dr. Samson was a man highly celebrated for learning, piety* 
and zeal in the cause of a farther reformation. None reproved 
the intolerance of the prelatical party with more freedom, or 
defended the opinions of the puritans with more inflexible con- 
stancy and perseverance; hence his talents, and his unyielding 
integrity, gained him the esteem of the seriously religious in 
every quarter of the kingdom. Upon his retiring to Leicester, 
he employed the remainder of his days in managing the con- 
cerns of his hospital, and in his favourite exercise of preaching; 
and having spent a life of much useful labour and unmerited 



THOMAS SAMSON. 9^5 

affliction, he died, in great tranquillity and comfort, a steady 
non-conformist, on the 9th April 1589, aged seventy-two years, 
and was interred in the chapel belonging to his hospital, where 
a monumental inscription was erected to his memory by his 
sons John and Nathaniel. 

His works are, A Letter to the Professors of Christ's Gospel. 
— A Warning to take heed of Fowler's Psalter. — Brief Collec- 
tion of the Ceremonies of the Church. — Prayers and Medita- 
tions gathered from the Epistles. — He also collected and pub- 
lished several sermons, written by his old friend Mr John 
Bradford. 



JOHN UDAL. 

This celebrated scholar, and maltreated victim of prelatic 
intolerance, was educated at Cambridge. He was a preacher 
for about seven years at Kingston-upon-Thames. But some of 
his hearers, taking offence at his faithful warnings and admoni- 
tions, complained to the men in power; on which he was silenc- 
ed by the official Dr. Hone, and committed to prison; but by 
the voluntary interference of the countess of Warwick, Sir 
Drue Drury, and others, in his favour, he was restored to his 
ministry. This, however, was only the beginning of his sor- 
rows. In the year 1588 he was again suspended, and deprived 
of his living; when the inhabitants of Newcastle-upon-Tyne 
prevailed upon the earl of Huntingdon, lord president of the 
north, to^ send him to preach the gospel amongst them. Ac- 
cordingly, being driven from his flock at Kingston, Mr Udal 
removed to Newcastle, where his ministerial labours were of 
essential service to the people of that district. He had not re- 
mained in Newcastle more than one year, during which time the 
plague raged with uncommon violence, and had swept off two 
thousand of the inhabitants, when, by an order from the privy 
council, he was commanded to make his appearance at London. 
Thither therefore he immediately repaired, and, on the 13th of 
January 1589, made his appearance at lord Cobham's house. 
The commissioners present were, lords Buckhurst, chief justice 
Anderson and Cobham, the bishop of Rochester, Dr. Aubery, 
Dr. Lewin, Mr Fortesque, and Egerton the solicitor. — The lord 
chief justice commenced his examination as follows: 

Anderson. How long have you been at Newcastle ? 

Udal. About a year, please your lordship. 

A. Why went you from Kingston on Thames ? 

U. Because I was silenced in that place, and called to New- 
castle. 



276 MEMOIR OF 

A. What calling' had you thither ? 

U. The people requested my lord of Huntingdon to send 
nie, who accordingly did. 

A. Had you the allowance of the bishop of the diocese ? 

U. There was none at the time. 

A. You are called here on suspicion of being the author of 
certain books. 

U. If it be for any of Martin's books, I have already an- 
swered, and I am ready to answer again. 

A. Where did you answer, and in what manner? 

U. At Lambeth, I cleared myself of being the author, or of 
knowing who he is. 

A. Well, but you must answer to other books. 

U. I hope your lordship will not urge me to answer to any 
other book or article, seeing I have been cited expressly for the 
purpose of answering to Martin. 

A. You must answer to others; what say you of A Demonstra- 
tion and A Dialogue, did you not make them? 

U. I cannot answer. 

A. Why would you clear yourself of Martin, and not of 
those, unless you are guilty ? 

U. Because I have reason to answer in the one case, but 
not in the other. 

A. Let us hear your reason, I cannot conceive of it, seeing 
they both concern the same thing. 

U. The reason, my lord, is this : Though the matter pro- 
posed in both are the same, I would not be understood to han- 
dle it in the manner of the former. I like the manner and 
management of the latter much better, so that I care not though 
it should be fathered upon me. 

A, What say you? did you make these books? or do you 
know who did? 

U. I cannot answer to that question, my lord. 

A. You might as well have told me you are the author. 

U. That, my lord, does not necessarily follow. 

A. Will you not take the oath now, as well as you did for- 
merly. 

U. I was called to answer formerly upon my oath, which I 
did accordingly, and in these answers apprized my judges of 
certain things concerning myself, which they could never have 
known otherwise; but when my friends laboured to have me re- 
stored, the archbishop told them that he had matter against me, 
by my own confession, sufficient to prevent my restoration : 
Upon which I covenanted with mine own heart never again to, 
afford them such an opportunity. 

A. Then you must go to prison. 



JOHN UDAL. 277 

U. I had rather go to prison, with a good conscience, than 
walk at liberty with an ill one. 

So Mr Uclal was carried to the Gatehouse prison by a mes- 
senger, who delivered him to the keeper, with a warrant to be 
kept close prisoner, without the use of pen, ink, or paper, or 
any person allowed to speak with him. There he remained 
half-a-year, during which his wife was not permitted to speak 
with him, unless in the presence of the keeper. She had ap- 
plied to the commissioners, and also to the council, for more 
liberty; but without effect. Udal's chamber associates, during 
this time, were seminary priests, traitors, and professed papists. 
At the end of six months he was removed to the White-lion in 
Southwark, and on the 24th of July carried to the assizes at 
Croydon, with fetters on his legs, and indicted upon the statute 
23d. Eliz. chap. Sd, before baron Clarke and sergeant Pucker- 
ing, for writing a wicked, scandalous, and seditious libel, en- 
titled, " A Demonstration of the truth of that Discipline which 
Christ hath prescribed in his word for the government of his 
church in all places, and at all times, till the end of the world." 
The book was dedicated to the archbishops, bishops, &c. In 
the dedication are these words, on which the charge against 
him was principally founded, viz. " Who can, without blush- 
ing, deny you (the bishops) to be the cause of all ungodliness, 
seeing your government permits man to be any thing but a 
sound christian. For under your jurisdiction, it is safer, by 
far, to be a papist, an anabaptist, any thing indeed, however 
wicked, rather than that which every man ought to be. I 
could live in England for twenty years, in any of these hateful 
characters, nay, even in the bishops' houses, and, in all proba- 
bility, meet with little or no molestation. So true is the charge 
made against you, in a Dialogue newly come forth, and since 
burned by your authority, that yo\i care for nothing but the 
maintenance of your dignities, be it to the damnation of your 
own souls, and those of millions beside." In the indictment it 
is said, " That he, not having the fear of God before his eyes, 
but being instigated by the devil, did maliciously publish a 
scandalous and infamous libel against the queen's majesty, her 
crown and dignity." 

Being brought to the bar, and his indictment read, Mr Udal 
humbly requested their lordships to be heard by council; but 
this was denied by his lordship, saying, you cannot have it. 
Answer to your indictment. He then pled not guilty, and put 
himself on the trial of his country. 

The points in the indictment were three. 1st, That Udal 
was author of the book. 2d, That he wrote it with a malicious 
intent; and, 3d, That the charges in the indictment were felony 
by the 23d. of Eliz, chap. 2d. 



278 MEMOIR OF 

In proving the first point, namely, that Mr Udal was the 
author of the book, the judges did not stand upon the legal 
formality of bringing the witnesses face to face with the accus- 
ed; their examinations, or something said to be their examina- 
tions, however, were produced, to which the register swore. 
Stephen Chatfield's articles were first read: They stated, 
that he had seen certain papers in Mr UdaPs study, and on 
asking to whom they belonged, Udal said, to a friend : That he, 
Chatfield, had advised him to put them out of the way, as he 
feared they concerned the state. Moreover, that Mr Udal told 
him, at another time, that should the bishops silence him, he 
would give them a blow, such as they had never got before. 
Chatfield was then called to attest these facts; but he did not 
appear. Mr Udal, said the judge, you are very happy at this. 
I heartily wish he were here, said the prisoner, for as I am as- 
sured he can say nothing to prove this point, so I can prove 
that he is heartily sorry that he made any complaint against me, 
confessing that he did it in a fit of anger, and that by sugges- 
tions of some, whom he has since found to be bad men. Mr 
Udal proceeding to vindicate himself, by stating that the book 
came out before he had this conversation with Chatfield; but 
the judge interrupted him, saying, the case is sufficiently clear 
already. 

The examination of Nicholas Tomkins was next produced. 
This Tomkins was now beyond seas, but the paper stated, that 
Mr Udal told him that he was the author. But Tomkins him- 
self afterwards said, that he would not, for a thousand worlds, 
affirm any thing more, than that Mr Udal said, in his hearing, 
that he could, without hesitation, set his name to the book, pro- 
vided he had impartial judges. When Mr Udal wanted to 
bring forward his witnesses to prove this, and other facts, the 
judge interfered, saying, the witnesses were against the queen's 
majesty, and therefore could not be heard. 

The confession of Henry Sharp was next read, who, upon 
his oath before the lord chamberland, had declared, that he 
heard Mr Penry say, that Mr Udal was author of the Demon- 
stration. 

This was all the evidence of the fact upon which he was 
convicted. Not a single witness was produced in court, so that 
the poor man had no opportunity to cross-examine them, and 
refute their evidence. And not being proven, the whole was a 
solemn mockery. They might have condemned him as well 
without as with a trial so obviously partial, and, beyond all ci- 
vilized and judicial procedure, unjust. Fuller allows that the 
proof was by no means competent, for it was generally believ- 
ed that he was not the writer of the book, though probably of 



JOHN UDAL. 279 

the preface; but even this was not proved. The statute was 
evidentlv strained beyond its original import, and that with the 
design to reach his life. At the bar Mr Udal demeaned him- 
self with great modesty and discretion; and having rebutted the 
charges brought against him to the satisfaction of every intelli- 
gent and impartial auditor, he submitted, with christian resig- 
nation, to a sentence he was not permitted to ward off. The times 
were peculiarly bad, and the court of high commission was se- 
vere to a proverb; but Mr Udal's case, for flagrant injustice, 
and undisguised villany, will scarcely find a parallel in the 
annals of the inquisition. The pannel was not allowed excul- 
patory evidence, the jury were not permitted to judge of the in- 
tention which alone constitutes the crime; and his refusing to 
swear that he was not the author of the book, was charged 
against him as a sufficient proof that he really was. 

Mr Udal was convicted in the summer of 1590, but did not 
receive sentence till the ensuing spring. In the meantime, a 
pardon was held out, on condition that he would subscribe a 
most degrading acknowledgment and recantation. But no 
sophistry could decoy, nor threatening could terrify him into 
such a base submission. He told them, that no consideration 
on earth could induce him to subscribe to that as a truth, which 
he knew to be false; he therefore resolved to make the last sa- 
crifice, rather than be guilty of such hypocritical prevarication. 
The day before he was to receive sentence, he offered a sub- 
mission, drawn up by himself, to the following import : " That 
with regard to the book, which a jury of twelve men had found 
him to be the author, though he could not disavow the cause 
maintained, nor the substance of the doctrines debated therein, 
which he considered holy, and, as far as he could judge con- 
cerning them, agreeable to the word of God; yet he acknow- 
ledged that in some parts of it the manner of writing might justly 
offend her majesty : And as the verdict of the jury imputed all its 
faults to him, and had laid all the severity of the punishment 
upon him, his humble suit to her majesty was, that her mercy 
and pardon might remove the guilt and offence which the law had 
thus cast upon him, and that, in her great clemency, she would 
be graciously pleased to restore him to the comforts of life and 
liberty; and, on his part, he would promise and engage, in all 
humble submission to God and her majesty, to conduct him- 
self, during the whole course of his life, in such a dutiful and 
obedient manner as became a minister of the gospel, and her 
majesty's faithful subject." Prior to this, he had solicited his 
judges to recommend him to the queen's mercy, and had also 
supplicated several others; but all to no purpose, nothing would 
satisfy the court but his recantation; which being directly op- 
posed to the conviction of his own mind, he utterly rejected. 



280 MEMOIR OF 

At the close of the spring assizes, Mr Udal being called to 
the bar, along with other felons, and asked what he had to say, 
why judgment should not be pronounced against him, accord- 
ing to the verdict of a jury of his peers. He delivered a paper 
to the court, stating the grounds on which he objected to the 
verdict given against him. The substance of which are as 
follows : 

" 1st, Because the jury, whose duty it was to judge both of 
the action and intention of the law as well as of the fact, not 
only whether I was the author of the book with which I am 
charged, but also whether the sentiments therein held forth 
were written with a malicious intent; or whether, on an impar- 
tial construction of the statute, they amounted to felony as charg- 
ed in the indictment. But the jury, notwithstanding the oath 
they had taken to perform this obvious part of their office, un- 
der the most awful responsibility, were nevertheless freed, by 
the express authority of your lordships, from performing its 
most essential parts. They were not permitted to consider 
whether the book was written with a malicious intention against 
her majesty, or her majesty's government, which alone could 
constitute the crime of felony in the eye of the law, and accord- 
ing to the intent of the statute on which the charges were 
founded. But the jury were not only freed from the discharge 
of these important inquires, they were also tampered with, and 
wrought upon by promises, that, though under existing circum- 
stances it was expedient to proceed the length of conviction, 
no farther danger was to be apprehended to the prisoner, but 
that it would tend ultimately to his advantage. By these 
promises the jurors were not left to the free exercise of their 
own judgments, but artfully led to a verdict they would other- 
wise have opposed; as appears from the shame and sorrow some 
of them have manifested ever since. 

" 2d, Because in that paragraph of the book on which the 
charge against me is founded, there is no mention made, either 
of the queen or her crown and dignity; neither indeed is there 
a single sentence concerning her majesty, in the whole book, but 
what breathes a spirit of loyalty, candour, and affection. So 
that if any just cause of complaint any where exist against the 
book in question, it must remain with the bishops, who alone 
have been characterized therein. But notwithstanding of all 
this, the jury have found a verdict against me, for writing a 
scandalous and infamous libel against her majesty, and of doing 
this with a malicious intent; whereas the paragraph founded 
upon, and even the whole contents of the book itself, ascribes 
blame to none but the bishops. The indictment, therefore, and 
the paragraph on which it is founded, are so diametrically 



JOHN UDAL. 281 

opposed the one to the other, that the most Jesuitical ingenuity 
shall never be able to reconcile them. 

" It is true, I have been told, that whoever traduces the cha- 
racter of a bishop, traduces that of the queen, by whose autho- 
ritv the bishop acts, inasmuch as bishops are members of her 
body politic. But had the assertors of such ridiculous absurdi- 
ties consulted their own credit for modesty and propriety of 
sentiment, they would have first considered, whether parish con- 
stables, as well as bishops, do not act by the queen's authority; 
and whether they, as well as the bishops, are not for the same 
reason members of the same political body; and even whether 
every member of the great English community be not also mem- 
bers of this political body. If therefore this be the case, and 
who will have the confidence to negative the assertion; then, 
consider for a moment, how tyrannical and unjust it would ap- 
pear to every sound understanding, to condemn, to an igno- 
minious death, one of her majesty's loyal subjects, for no greater 
crime than that of lashing the negligence or the tyrannical exer- 
cise of power in a parish constable, under the creeping subterfuge, 
that the satirist did all this against her majesty, whom he re- 
veres. The servant is not greater than his master; but it would 
appear, that some of the bishops of England are anxious to be 
considered at least equal to their mistress; and I have no doubt, 
but the simple dictates of common justice will dispose thou- 
sands of her majesty's subjects to think with me, that some of 
these aspiring churchmen might be indicted for treason against 
the queen, with much more propriety than I have been for fe- 
lony, on account of their audacity in thus claiming an equality 
with their sovereign. I beseech your lordships, therefore, to 
reconsider the circumstances under which the verdict against 
me has been found; deign to recollect, that there is no legal, 
nor indeed any other species of evidence, that I am even the 
author of the book : That the intention has not yet been ex- 
amined: That the paragraph libelled has no respect to the 
queen; and, of course, that the indictment is not relevant to in- 
fer the pains awarded by the statute. 

"But even supposing that my case had been legitimately 
embraced by the statute, still the felony, which alone consists 
in the malicious intention, cannot possibly be made out against 
me, inasmuch as that prominent point of the indictment has not 
been considered at all by the jury. Hitherto juries have been 
in the habit of founding their verdicts on the evidence given. 
My jury, however, has reached their destination by a much 
shorter process. Evidence they had none, they have therefore 
left us in the dark as to the means used in discovering my cri- 
minality; whether this was effected by the principle of instinct, 

11 2n 



282 MEMOIR OF 

or whether, like fox-hounds, they can detect felony by the 
smell, they have neglected to inform us. Alas ! my lords, 
this mode of conviction, if ever it be suffered to become a pre- 
cedent, will be found fraught with the most alarming conse- 
quences to the country. It is calculated to transform one of 
our greatest blessings, the trial by jury, to a most powerful en- 
gine of sweeping destruction. To cool the affections of men, 
not merely towards the laws themselves, but also towards the 
legislature, and all the subordinate branches of the government. 
To break the bands of unity, and tear asunder every cord of 
affection by which society arc knit together. For all confi- 
dence must needs be shaken, wherever men observe their friends 
and neighbours thus pursued to the death by a perverted law, 
and an influenced judgment-seat. 

" With regard to myself, I have been indicted, before this 
high tribunal, on suspicion of writing a scandalous and infamous 
libel against my sovereign, and that I have done this with a 
malicious intent against her majesty. In respect of which, I ap- 
peal first to God, and then to all men who have known my 
course of life from my youth till the present time; nay, more, 
I appeal to the consciences of your lordships, whether you have 
found me guilty of any act that savours of the least malice 
against her majesty. 

" But, my lords, by the laws of God, and I trust also by the 
laws of England, the witnesses ought to have been produced, in 
open court, before me. This, however, you are well aware, 
was not the case. Nothing, I say, nothing was brought for- 
ward to prove my criminality, but some papers said to be re- 
ports of depositions of individuals, who seemed ashamed to make 
their appearance, or substantiate these their supposed declara- 
tions. This species of evidence the law will not admit, not even 
in determining the title to a rood of ground; how much more 
inadmissible must it appear in a case of life or death ? Sup- 
posing your lordships shut up to the hard necessity of losing 
either your lands or your lives, the choice you would make, 
under this painful alternative, would soon discover which was 
the most valuable in your estimation. Wherefore, then, was 
this common privilege, guaranteed to every Englishman by our 
great national charter, denied to me ? Why were not my ac- 
cusers produced, to give evidence in my presence, that I might 
enjoy the privilege of cross-examining them, and thereby have 
an opportunity of refuting what appeared incorrect in their tes- 
timony? The law requires all this, and candour would admit 
the same, even were there no law. But in place of measuring 
my supposed guilt by the golden motewand of justice, the 
crooked rule of expediency has been substituted in its room, so 



JOHN UDAL. 283 

that not only justice, but even the legitimate forms of justice? 
have been cruelly denied me, and I am about to receive the 
sentence of death upon the mere reports of evidence, which the 
principal witness against me declares he would not swear to for 
the value of a thousand worlds. All this I offered to prove by 
a number of sufficient witnesses; but was prevented, upon the 
unwarrantable plea, that being against the crown, they could not 
be heard. 

" Thus, my lords, my exculpatory evidence has been rejected 
ivithout legal cause; neither have I been confronted by my ac- 
cusers as the law directs. My jury were not permitted to 
weigh the import of the expressions charged against me; and 
notwithstanding of all the latitude taken in repelling my ob- 
jections, you have found nothing against me. Your evidence, 
illegal and loose as it was, has utterly failed in bringing 
any one charge in the indictment home to me. You have not 
even proved me to be either the author or publisher of the book 
in question. But, my lords, supposing I was the author of the 
book, and that you had succeeded in proving me to be so, to 
what would it amount, not surely to felony; for, let it be remem- 
bered, that in substance it contains nothing but what is taught 
and believed in the best reformed churches of Europe. If 
therefore you condemn me as its author for felony, you at 
the same time condemn those nations, and all those churches 
that hold the same opinions. 

" With regard to the manner in which the book is written, 
men will differ in their opinions. Even of those who receive the 
doctrine therein contended for, as agreeable to the word of 
God, and the example of the primitive churches, some may 
hesitate at the asperity of the language used in some parts of 
the work, and perhaps form the opinion, that an admonition, a 
small fine, or a short imprisonment, becomes necessary, as a 
salutary example to deter others from overstepping the line of 
moderation in their controversial animadversions. But death, 
and death for an error so trivial I as you value your reputation 
amongst men; as you dread the cutting accusations of a revolt- 
ing conscience; as you estimate the happiness of heaven, and the 
glory yet to be revealed — pause, I beseech you, reconsider the 
circumstances of the case, recollect the deficiency of evidence, 
count the cost, and calculate the consequences, before you pro- 
nounce a sentence so utterly disproportioned to the supposed 
offence — a sentence, which every good man must reprobate, 
and which villains themselves will never have the confidence to 
defend. After all, if nothing less than my blood, or what is 
still more precious, my integrity, will satiate the resentment of 
mine enemies, God's will be done : But know ye, that I am 



284 MEMOIR OF 

not destitute of other resources. I know that my Redeemer 
liveth, and that^he shall one day judge the world in righteous- 
ness. To him, therefore, I appeal from your iniquitous deci- 
sion; and confident in his wisdom, power, and impartial jus- 
tice, my flesh also shall rest in hope. Behold ! I am in your 
hands to do with me according to your own good pleasure; but 
know this, that if you put me to death, you shall bring inno- 
cent blood upon your own heads, and upon the land. As the 
blood of Abel, so, be assured, the blood of Udal, will cry to 
God from the ground, and the righteous Judge of the world 
will require it at the hands of all who shall be found guilty." 

Nothing, however, that he could say proved available. His 
reasons were rejected, and his judges remained inflexible, un- 
less he would subscribe to his recantation; which his conscience 
could not permit. The sentence of death therefore was passed 
upon him, February 20th, and his execution was openly award- 
ed. When he received the cruel and unjust sentence, he was 
not in the least agitated, but said, with peculiar gravity and 
seriousness, God's will be done. His execution was put off, 
however, by private orders from the court. In the meantime, 
the dean of St. Paul's and Dr. Andrews were sent to persuade 
him to sign his recantation; which he peremptorily refused. 

From the belief that the queen had got an erroneous account 
of his character and opinions, Sir Walter Raleigh persuaded 
him to write a short account of his faith ; which he did, and 
sent it to her majesty by the hand of Sir Walter. King 
James # of Scotland also wrote to the queen in UdaFs behalf, 
earnestly requesting that her majesty would forgive Mr Udal 
for his sake, promising to do as much for her in any matter she 
might recommend to his consideration. The Turkey merchants, 
about the same time, promised, providing he might be restored 
to his liberty, to send him to some of their factories abroad, to 
which he had consented, and wrote a letter to the treasurer, 
apprising him of these circumstances, and praying him to be a 
means of restoring him to liberty. On which the archbishop, it 
is said, yielded to his request. The keeper had promised to fur- 
ther the business, and Udal had reason to hope, as the earl of 
Essex had a draught of his pardon ready prepared; but the 
queen, for what reason we are not able to account, never signed 
it. The Turkey fleet sailed, and poor Udal, tossed between 
hope and despair, died a few months after, quite broken-heart- 
ed, in the Marshal-sea, about the close of 1592. — Fuller charac- 
terises him a learned man, blameless in life, powerful in prayer, 

* On the accession of King James to the crown, it is said, that on his arrival 
in England, amongst the first persons he inquired after was Mr Udal; and being 
informed of his death, "Then, upon my soul (said the king), \ve have lost the 
best scholar in Europe." 



JOHN UDAL. Q85 

and a diligent, as well as an edifying preacher. His remains 
were honourably interred in the church-yard of St. George, 
Southwark. His funeral was attended by most of the London 
ministers, who had, many of them, been his visitors while in 
prison, and were now willing to drop a tear over the mortal 
remains of a man, whose faith and patience were put to the se- 
verest trial, and who died for the testimony of a good con- 
science; and an evidence, that tyrants and oppressors can only 
control the body, but cannot triumph over a steady, well re- 
gulated, and determined mind. 

His works were, The Key of the Holy Tongue — A short 
Dictionary — Praxis on certain Psalms — A Commentary on the 
Lamentations of Jeremiah — The state of the Church of Eng- 
land laid open, &c. 



JOHN GREENWOOD. 

This most distinguished puritan, and inflexible non-con- 
formist, was for some time chaplain to lord Rich; but after- 
wards renouncing his episcopal orders, he became a rigid 
Brownist: and those of that persuasion becoming pretty numer- 
ous in and about London, formed themselves into a church; 
and Mr Francis Johnson was elected, by the suffrages of the 
congregation, as their pastor, and Mr Greenwood for their doc- 
tor or teacher. This took place, it would appear, about 1592. 
On Mr Greenwood's embracing the sentiments of this de- 
nomination, he became intimately acquainted with Mr Henry 
Barrow, a lawyer, and warmly attached to the same opinions. 
Their actings and sufferings were so closely connected, and 
often intermixed with one another, that it will be difficult to 
narrate them separately. Having been, for some time, fellow- 
prisoners for the same cause, they were brought before the 
court of high commission in November 1586, and charged with 
holding and propagating schismatical and seditious opinions. 
The leading articles of which were : That the church of Eng- 
land is no true church : That its worship is idolatry : That 
she admits unsanctified and profane persons to her communion : 
That her ministers have no lawful calling to the ministry: 
That her government is unscriptural, ungodly, and tyrannical : 
That the people of every parish ought to choose their respective 
pastors themselves : That every elder, though neither doctor 
nor pastor, is a bishop: That printed or written creeds or 
catechisms are idle, useless, and unnecessary; and that to use 
set forms of prayer is a species of blasphemy, Such were the 
charges brought forward against these men by their enemies. 



286 MEMOIR OF 

and persecutors. We have good reason, therefore, to believe 
that they are the worst things with which they were able to 
charge them; and the reader will judge for himself how far 
they correspond with the generally received opinions of religious 
liberty in the nineteenth century. When Mr Greenwood and 
Mr Barrow appeared before the commission, they were closely 
examined. Mr Greenwood had been prisoner before Barrow; 
but how long cannot now be ascertained. In 1592, however, 
they had been at least four or five years close prisoners, and 
treated, during the whole of that wearisome period, with un- 
christian severity. They underwent a close and insulting ex- 
amination before the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of 
London and Winchester, the two lord chief justices, the lord 
chief baron, the master of the rolls, and others, in which the 
court exhausted their ingenuity in attempting to lead them into 
an acknowledgment of the crimes they had laid to their charge; 
but there is too much quibbling to make their tedious examina- 
tions in the least interesting. Mr Greenwood was remanded 
to prison, where he remained a long time in close confinement; 
and, as it would appear from a paper, entitled, " The names of 
sundry faithful christians imprisoned by the archbishop of 
Canterbury and the bishop of London," he had many compa- 
nions in his tribulation. In this paper it is stated, that Mr 
Greenwood and Barrow had been confined thirty weeks in the 
Clink, for reading a portion of scripture, in a friend's house, on 
the Lord's day; but were removed to the Fleet by an habeas 
corpus, where they lay on an execution of two hundred and 
sixty pounds each : That Henry Thomson and George Collier 
were committed to the Clink for hearing Mr Greenwood read 
the said portion of scripture, and had remained nineteen months 
without being called to answer. Jerome Studley, for refusing 
to answer interrogatories, was sent to the same place, where he 
remained fifteen months. Christopher Roper was committed 
close prisoner by the bishop of London. Edward Boys was 
nineteen months in bridewell, and afterwards removed to the 
Clink. John Chamber was committed to the same prison for 
hearing Mr Greenwood read as above, where he died. George 
Bright, for commending a faithful christian for his integrity in 
holding out when under persecution, was confined in Newgate, 
where he also died. Maynard, Roe, and Barrow, three aged 
widows, were thrown into Newgate by the bishop of London, 
for hearing Mr Greenwood read the above portion of scripture, 
where two of them died by the infection of the prison. Quin- 
tin Smyth was sent to Newgate, confined in a dungeon, loaded 
with irons, and had his bible taken from him; and John Purdye 
was sent to bridewell, and confined in a place called Little Ease % 



JOHN GREENWOOD. 287 

where he was beat with bludgeons because he would not attend 
the parish church. These are merely a specimen of vast num- 
bers, who, about this time, were treated with similar severity 
for their non-conformity. 

While these cruel measures were exercising against the 
Brownists, who, by this time, partly occupied all the jails in 
London, the high commission appointed forty-three conforming 
clergymen to confer with the same number of these imprisoned 
puritans, to whom they delivered a brief of the positions with 
which they were charged. These were twelve in number; and 
in the shape they were charged against them, full of heretical 
and blasphemous sentiments, but containing little more than 
misrepresentations. The Brownists replied in a publication, 
entitled, " A brief answer to certain slanderous and ungodly 
calumniations, spread abroad by the bishops and their adher- 
ents, against divers faithful and true christians, 1590." In 
this piece they denied the charges thus maliciously brought 
against them, and openly declared their opinions on the various 
points specified in these positions, and endeavoured 4o set the 
public opinion right with regard both to their faith and prac- 
tice. Mr Greenwood and Barrow were supposed to have been 
the authors of this reply, in which they had treated the bishops 
and the church, by law established, with considerable freedom. 
Mr Greenwood and Mr Barrow united with about sixty 
other prisoners, in the different jails of the metropolis, in stat- 
ing their grievances to the lord treasurer. In their petition, 
they earnestly entreated his lordship either to grant them an 
early trial, or, in the meantime, to favour them with the privi- 
lege of some christian conference, or that they might be admit- 
ted to bail according to law; or that he would, by some means, 
bring their cause before the rest of her majesty's most honour- 
able privy council : " For (say they) her majesty has not, in 
the wide extent of her empire, more dutiful and loving subjects, 
who have, to the number of threescore and upwards, been im- 
prisoned contrary to all law, reason, and equity: Separated 
from our lawful callings, our trades, wives, children, and 
families, and shut up in close and nauseous prisons, where 
every comfort is denied us; while poverty and famine prey 
upon our constitutions, so that many have already fallen vic- 
tims to the severity thus exercised against us; and all this by 
the sole authority of the bishops, who deprive us of all legal 
, audience and protection. We are not only oppressed, but ca- 
lumniated and traduced in our characters, and charged witli 
opinions we never held, and actions which our souls abhor; but, 
above all, we are debarred from spiritual edification and com- 
fort, by doctrine, prayer, or mutual conference." This ap- 



288 MEMOIR OF 

plication, like most others, proved of little avail. During their 
long imprisonment, various pamphlets were published, whereby 
their characters were vilely aspersed, and their tenets most ma- 
liciously misrepresented to the world; nor were they themselves 
inactive. They also set forth several publications in defence of 
their characters and the doctrines they had espoused. Green- 
wood and Barrow were considered as the authors of these pub- 
lications; and having expressed themselves with considerable 
freedom, with respect both to the office and conduct of the dig- 
nitaries of the church, and even of the church itself as by law 
established, they thereby drew down upon themselves the 
powerful resentment of the bishops. Accordingly, on the 21st 
March 1592, they, together with Daniel Studley, Robert 
Bowie, Mr Saxto Bellot, were indicted at the Old Bailey, 
upon the statute 23d. Eliz., for writing sundry seditious books 
and pamphlets, tending to the slander of the queen and govern- 
ment; whereas, in fact, they had published nothing but what 
was levelled at the bishops and the church. On their trial 
they evinced a heroic courage and undaunted self-possession, 
exhibiting no token of wavering timidity, making no applica- 
tion for mercy, but a bold and freeman-like demand for justice, 
in all its instituted forms. They protested, that they never 
wrote, or had the least intention to write, against her majesty, 
but merely against the bishops and the church; all which was 
sufficiently obvious. The jury, however, possessed too large a 
portion of the spirit of their judges to let them slip, and accord- 
ingly brought them all in guilty. Bellot, with tears, requested 
a conference, and confessed his sorrow for what he had done. 
Studley and Bowie stood firm, declared their unshaken loyalty 
to the queen, and manfully refused to accept of mercy at the 
expence of their sincerity; but being only considered as acces- 
saries, they were reprieved, and sent back to prison. About 
four years after this Studley was banished; and in a short time 
after Bellot and Bowie died in Newgate; but Greenwood and 
Barrow were, in the meantime, reserved for public examples, 
and had the sentence of death passed upon them, March 23d. 

After receiving the awful sentence, several divines were ap- 
pointed to converse with the prisoners, and, if possible, bring 
them to a recantation; but all their endeavours were vain, they 
remained inflexibfe. They had counted the cost before they 
embarked in the hazardous work of reformation, and made 
choice of what they conceived the least dangerous alternative. 
Accordingly, on the last day of March, they were taken to Ty- 
burn in a cart, where they were placed under the gallows, and 
for some time exposed to the multitude, in the hopes that the 
terrors of death would frighten them to a recantation; but the 



JOHN GREENWOOD. 289 

sight of the dreadful apparatus made no impression on their 
resolution. They were therefore carried back to Newgate, 
where they remained till the 6th of April, when they were car- 
ried a second time to Tyburn, and executed pursuant to their 
sentence. At the place of execution they gave undoubted evi- 
dence of the sincerity of their faith, of their unfeigned piety, 
and true loyalty; which being represented to the queen, she 
seemed sorry that she had signed the warrant for their execu- 
tion. Dr. Rainolds, who had attended them in their last mo- 
ments, signified to her majesty, that it was his opinion the age 
had not produced two individuals better qualified for furthering 
the work of the gospel than these two men. We learn, more- 
over, from the famous Hugh Broughton, that though they were 
condemned on the pretence of being disturbers of the state, that 
this would have been forgiven them if they would have con- 
descended to attend the parish church ; which shows that they 
became martyrs for their non-conformity. 

The archbishop, in order to throw the odium of his intoler- 
ance on the civil magistrate, contrived to have them tried for 
writing against the queen, notwithstanding that all the books 
charged against them were written against the church, the offi- 
cers of the church, their tyrannical government, and popish ce- 
remonies; with which hypocritical disingenuousness Mr Barrow 
charges him most explicitly. Having suffered confinement, in 
close prison, for several years, exposed to the severities of cold, 
nakedness, and famine, he presented a supplication to the 
queen, earnestly requesting to be delivered from their present 
miseries, though it were even by death. This paper, however, 
the archbishop intercepted; and fearing that the queen might 
become acquainted with their real situation, and the cause 
thereof, he meanly prevented it from reaching her majesty. 
" The archbishop (says Mr Barrow), having filled the various 
prisons in London with such men as could not conscientiously 
conform to the established religion, covered his cruelty and ty- 
rannical conduct towards them, by charging their non-con- 
formity, not against the church, but against the queen and her 
government. He has destined brother Greenwood and myself to 
death, and others to a miserable imprisonment; their helpless 
wives and children to be cast out of the city, and their property 
confiscated. Is not this, says he, a right christian bishop ! Are 
these the virtues of him who takes upon himself the care and 
the government of the churches, thus to devour God's poor 
sheep, to tear off their flesh, to break their bones, and chop 
them to pieces as flesh for the caldron ? Will he thus instruct 
and convince gainsayers? or does he consult either his own 
credit, the credit of the church, or the honour of his prince, by 
11 2 o 



290 MEMOIR OF 

such tyrannical havock ? For our parts, we are always ready, 
through the grace of God, to be offered up upon the testimony 
of the faith that we have made, and our lives are not dear unto 
us, so that we may finish our testimony with joy." 

Little as religious freedom was understood at the period in 
question, these long imprisonments, with all their concomitant 
severities, together with the condemnation and cruel execution 
of Mr Barrow and Mr Greenwood, were such acts of cruelty 
and flagrant injustice, as will perpetuate the disgrace of the 
church, and for ever tarnish the glory of Elizabeth's otherwise 
illustrious reign. The queen has been charged with listening 
too implicitly to the suggestions of her clergy, who unfeelingly 
represented the puritans as men of seditious principles, and re- 
bels against their sovereign, who by their disobedience shook 
the foundation of her government and throne. But this is not 
the first time, nor the only kingdom in which disobedience to 
the ruling ecclesiastics has been charged as rebellion against the 
prince; nor would it be an easy matter to clear the clergy from 
leading the way in these unmanly misrepresentations. > 

Mr Greenwood published, 1st, A brief Refutation of Mi- 
George Gifford — 2d, An Answer to Mr George Gilford's De- 
fence of Read Prayers and Devised Liturgies. 



JOHN PENRY, A. M. 

This inflexible puritan was born in Brecknockshire, Wales, 
in 1559, and educated first at Cambridge, and afterwards at 
Oxford, where he took his degree of master of arts, 1586. He 
was about eighteen years of age when he came first to Cam- 
bridge; and Wales, the place of his nativity, being at that period 
wholly overspread with popish darkness, Penry was, of course, a 
papist; but soon after having embraced the doctrines of the pro- 
testant church, and taken his degrees, he became a much esteem- 
ed preacher in both universities, where he was accounted a toler- 
able scholar, an edifying preacher, and a good man. All this 
could scarcely be expected from so bitter a conformist as Wood; 
who farther informs us, that Penry, being full of Welsh blood, 
and possessing a hot head, and a restless disposition, changed 
his course, and became a notorious anabaptist, in some measure 
a Brownist, and an inveterate enemy to the English church. 
That Mr Penry was a determined enemy to the hierarchal 
government of the church of England, and particularly to the 
persecuting severity exercised by the prelatical junto in his 
time, need create no surprise, he being a most zealous promoter 
of a thorough reformation. 



JOHN PENRY. 291 

On leaving the university, Mr Penry settled for some time 
at Northampton, where, it is thought, he was employed in the 
ministry. His sufferings, of which he had a double portion, 
commenced about 1587, when he was cited before archbishop 
Whitegift, bishop Cooper, and others of the court of high com- 
mission. Here he was charged with having published a book, 
in which he had asserted, " That mere readers, that is, such as 
could not or would not preach, were no ministers : That the 
reading of homilies, or any other books, was not preaching the 
word of God; and therefore the ordinary means of salvation was 
thereby neglected and wholly wanting. 

During his examination, the bishop of London asking him, 
What objection he had to non-residents ? He said, non-resident 
clergymen do what they can to deprive the people of the ordi- 
nary means of salvation, which is the preaching of the word. 

Bishop. Is preaching the only means of salvation ? 

Penry. It is the only ordinary means; for how shall they be- 
lieve unless they hear, and how can they hear without a 
preacher. It pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching, to 
save them that believe. Penry having reasoned this point at 
some length, the bishop of Winchester rose and said, " I assure 
you, my lords, it is an execrable heresy." An heresy ! said 
Penry, I thank God that I ever have known that heresy. It is 
such a heresy, my lord, that I have determined to die in pos- 
session of it. 

Bish. I tell thee it is an heresy, and that thou shalt recant it 
as such. 

Pen. No, by the grace of God, never, so long as I live. 

Here the archbishop supported his brother of Winchester, by 
asserting that Penry's opinion was an execrable heresy. But, 
says he, such heathenish untruths are more to be pitied than 
answered. So Mr Penry was committed to prison, and after a 
month's confinement, liberated without further proceeding. But 
presently after the bishops sent their pursuivants with warrants 
to apprehend and commit him to prison. Walton, one of the 
pursuivants, went to Northampton, and entering Penry's house, 
ransacked his study, and brought away what papers he pleased; 
but Mr Penry was not to be found. 

Upon the publication of Martin Mar-prelate, and other sati- 
rical pamphlets, a special warrant was issued from the council, 
signed by several hands, Whitegift's being one, to seize and ap- 
prehend him as an enemy to the state, and that all the queen's 
good and loyal subjects should take him so to be. In the mean- 
time Penry had gone into Scotland, not merely on the score of 
safety, but as a student of divinity, where he remained till 
1593. During his residence in Scotland, he made manyobser- 



^92 MEMOIR OF 

vations on the state of religion for his own private use, and had 
drawn up the heads of an address to the queen, on purpose that 
he might apprize her majesty of the real state of religion in the 
kingdom; how much she was deceived hy the misrepresenta- 
tions of her dignified clergy, and of the many and gross abuses 
that existed in the church; also to intercede with her majesty for 
permission to preach the gospel in his native country of Wales, 
where, at that period, it was extremely necessary. This skele- 
ton of his petition and address he had resolved to extend, and 
deliver, with his own hand, when he should find a proper op- 
portunity. With this paper, and his other observations, Mr 
Penry returned from Scotland; but had scarcely arrived in 
London, till he was seized in Stepney parish by information 
from the vicar. This happened in the month of May, and poor 
Penry was arraigned, condemned, and executed in the course 
of the same month. 

The charges brought against him were extracted from his 
private papers. He was indicted on the statute 23d. of Eliz. 
chap. 2d«5 for seditious words and rumours uttered against the 
queen's most excellent majesty, to the stirring up of rebellion 
amongst her subjects. He was convicted of felony on the 21st 
of May, in the king's bench, before justice Popham. During 
his short confinement, he was examined before the worshipful 
Mr Fanshaw and justice Young. 

Fanshaw. It seems strange, Mr Penry, that you hold opi- 
nions that none of the learned men of this age, nor any of the 
martyrs of former ages, ever maintained. Can you shew any 
writer, ancient or modern, of your judgment? 

Penry. Whatever I hold I will be bound to prove from the 
scriptures, and shew that the same opinions have also been 
maintained by our holy martyrs, Wickliff, Brute, Purvy, 
White, Tyndale, Lambert, Barnes, Latimer, and others. 

Fan. Do the martyrs then teach you that there is no church 
of Christ in England ? 

Pen. If by a church you mean that public profession of reli- 
gion, in which salvation, by the death and righteousness of 
Christ, is taught and believed, I do by no means deny the ex- 
istence of a church in England. 

Fan. What is it then that you dislike in our church, and 
why will you not partake with us of these truths and these 
sacraments ? 

Pen. I dislike, 1st, your false ecclesiastic officers. 2d, The 
calling of these officers. 3d, A great part of the works in which 
these false and improperly elected officers are engaged. 4th, 
Their maintenance or livings — All of which I will be bound to 
prove contrary to the word of God, and derived not from Jesus 



JOHN PENRY. 293 

Christ, the king and only head of his own church, but from 
antichrist, his most evident and audacious enemy. 

Fan. What officers do you mean ? 

Pen. Archbishops, lord bishops, archdeacons, commissaries, 
chancellors, deans, canons, prebendaries, priests, &c, all of 
whom are the invention of the Romish church, and correspond 
with no other body, civil or ecclesiastic. The church of Christ 
is complete in all her offices without them. The state has no 
occasion for them. Pagan idolatry, with all its absurdities, 
never had them. The kingdom of antichrist, and it alone, 
cannot be entire without them. 

Fan. Would you then have no other offices in the church, 
now that she is at peace, than those considered necessary in 
times of persecution and distress? 

Pen. No, surely; for if the order left by Moses was not to be 
altered but by the special command of God; then may neither 
man or augel, unless by the same authority, add or abstract 
from that holy form that the Son of God has appointed for his 
own house. 

Fan. What office had you in your church, that meets in 
woods, and I know not where ? 

Pen. I have no office in that poor congregation; and with re- 
spect to our meeting in woods and secret places, we have the 
honourable example of good men in all ages, when, like us, 
prohibited to meet in public by intolerant persecutors. Yet we 
are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, but ready to profess 
the same before men and angels. Let not therefore our neces- 
sity be charged against us as a crime, especially as you your- 
selves are the sole cause. 

Fan. You labour to draw her majesty's subjects from their 
allegiance, and from the church of England, to hear you, and 
tsuch as you, teaching in woods. 

Pert. Nay, I persuade all men to obey their prince and her 
laws; only I endeavour to persuade all the world from yielding 
obedience to antichrist, and to submit to the simple laws and 
easy yoke of our Redeemer; all which I know to be agreeable 
to the laws of the Cjueen. 

It was at first intended to indict Mr Penry on the books 
published in his name; but by the advice of counsel, he drew 
up a paper, which induced his adversaries to alter their inten- 
tion. This paper, elated May 10th, 1593, is entitled, " Mr 
Penry's declaration that he is not in danger from the law by 
the books published in his name." In this declaration, he ob- 
serves, that the statute was never intended to include those who 
wrote merely against the ecclesiastic establishment; because, in 
that case, it must have condemned many of the most learned 



2JH MEMOIR OF 

protestants, both at home and abroad, but only such persons as 
by their writings defame her majesty's royal person, against 
whom he had never written, nor determined to write : Nor had 
he, at any time, been at a meeting or conventicle where any, 
under or above the number of twelve persons, were assembled; 
but that, nevertheless, had he been guilty of all these, he ought 
to have been accused within one month of the crime, upon the 
oath of two witnesses, and to have been indicted within the 
space of one year, otherwise the statute itself clears him in ex- 
press terms. 

The court, apprehending that this declaration of Penry's 
might occasion an argument in law, set aside his printed books, 
and had him indicted on the contents of his manuscript petition 
and observations before mentioned. This was still more unjust 
and unprecedented, as he expresses himself to the lord treasurer 
Burleigh, to whom he sent his protestation immediately after 
his condemnation. " It is most lamentable (says he), and with- 
out a parallel, that the private observations of a student, and 
these made while in a foreign land, and especially considering 
that they were most secret and altogether imperfect, should 
occasion his life to terminal e in violence and blood. I have, 
nevertheless, this consolation, that though my consciousness of 
innocence stands me in no stead before my earthly tribunal, I 
know that I shall have an honourable acquittal before the tri- 
bunal of the great King and merciful Father, who tenderly guards 
and supplies the desolate widow and the fatherless, and will be 
the father and protector of my poor widow and friendless orphans. 
And being likely to trouble your lordship with no more letters, 
I acknowledge, with hearty gratitude, your lordship's favours 
towards me, in receiving the writings which I have presumed 
to send you from time to time. And in this, most probably my 
last, I protest before God, that so far as I know, I have written 
you nothing but the truth. And now that my private scrawls, 
and unfinished observations, are brought against me to the 
spilling of my blood, I humbly crave that the whole of these my 
private papers may be made public, that the world may see that 
they contain nothing but what is honourable both for myself 
and my sovereign. For though I be condemned as a felon or 
traitor, I thank God, that neither man nor devil shall ever be 
able to convict me of either. 

ii I never set myself up as a public rebuker, much less for a 
reformer of states and kingdoms; but all the world must bear 
with me, if, in the discharge of my conscience, I prefer my testi- 
mony to the truths of Jesus Christ, before the favour of any 
creature in earth or in heaven. The prosperity of my country, 
and the honour of my prince, were always dear to me, as he 



JOHN PENRY. 295 

knows by whom kings reign, and kingdoms are preserved; nor 
have I taken part in tins cause out of contention, vain glory, or 
with the design to draw disciples after me, Lord, thou art wit- 
ness. Whatever I may have written contrary to the word of 
God, I have warned the world to avoid. My confession of 
faith, and allegiance to God and the queen, written since my 
imprisonment, I take, as I shall answer before Jesus Christ, 
and the elect angels, to contain nothing but God's eternal truth; 
and therefore if my blood were an ocean, and each drop a life 
to me, I would freely give it all in defence thereof; yet if any 
error can be shewn, that error I will not defend. 

" Great things in this life I have never sought; sufficiency I 
have had with great trouble; but with my lot in life I have been 
most content, yea, even with my untimely and unmerited death, 
I am, and shall be, contented; and I pray God that it may not 
be laid to the charge of any person in the land. From my 
heart I forgive all those who seek after my life, as I hope to be 
forgiven at the bar of the impartial and universal Judge. See- 
ing, however, we cannot agree in sentiment in this life, may 
we meet together in heaven, where the jarring animosities of 
this transitory state of erring probation shall give way to the 
unspeakable consolations of love, peace, purity, and everlasting 
concord. And if my death can procure any cmietness in the 
church of God and my country, I am glad of having a life to 
bestow in this service. To what better purpose could it be ap- 
plied were it preserved. Thus have I lived towards my God 
and my prince; and thus, by the grace of God, I mean to die. 
Many such subjects may her majesty have the pleasure to reign 
over; but may none of them meet with my reward. My last 
and earnest request is, that the queen may be made acquainted 
with these things before my death, or at least after my depart- 
ure." Having given a particular account of his religious opi- 
nions, Mr Penry adds, "Death, thanks be to God, I fear not. 
I know that the sting of death is taken away, and that the dead 
are truly blessed who die in the Lord; but imprisonments, ar- 
raignments, and death, are pitiful arguments for convincing the 
consciences of men." 

Mr Penry was not brought to execution immediately, as was 
generally expected, but at a time when it was least of all looked 
for. He was taken while at dinner, and privately conveyed to 
the place of execution, and there hastily bereaved of his life, 
without being permitted to make a declaration either of bis 
faith towards God, or his allegiance to the queen, though he 
earnestly requested that permission. 

Mr Penry was undoubtedly a man of extensive learning, 
eminent talents, and incorruptible integrity; but these excellent 



296 MEMOIR OF 

qualifications, in place of being available in soothing the pre- 
latical resentment, rather served as an inducement to remove a 
light, that served to discover the false foundation on which the 
whole fabric of ecclesiastic tyranny had been erected; and in 
spite of all the noise they had raised about his sedition and re- 
bellion against her majesty, the body of the people were satisfi- 
ed, that his plain dealing with the bishops and the church con- 
stituted the real crime for which he had to lay down his life. 

Mr Penry was the author of several learned works; but it 
never could be proved that he had any hand in the writings, 
entitled, " Martin Mar-prelate," though most of .the high 
churchmen have ascribed them to him and some others. It is 
well known, however, that the real authors were never discov- 
ered. The following has been considered as a correct list of 
his works. 

1st, The equity and propriety of an humble supplication, to 
be exhibited unto her most gracious majesty, and the high court 
of parliament, in behalf of the country of Wales, that some or- 
der may be taken for preaching the gospel amongst the inhabi- 
tants ot' that part of the kingdom, 1587. — 2d, A view of some 
of the wants and disorders in the service of God within her 
majesty's country of Wales. — 3d, A Defence of what has been 
written on the Questions of an Ignorant Ministry, and holding* 
communion with such. — 4th, Exhortation to the Governors 
and People of her majesty's country of Wales. — 5th, A Dia- 
logue, wherein is plainly laid open the tyrannical dealings of 
the lord bishops against God's children, 1589. — 6th, Treatise^ 
wherein is manfully proved, that reformation, and its true 
friends, are unjustly charged with enmity to her majesty and 
the state, 1590. — 7th, The state of the Church of England. — 
8th, Petition of Peace.— 9th, His Apology.— 10th, Of Public 
Ministry. — 11th, History of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, ap- 
plied to the prelatic ministry and church assemblies of Eng- 
land. 



FRANCIS JOHNSON. 

This highly distinguished puritan divine was fellow of 
Christ-college, Cambridge, a very popular preacher in the uni- 
versity, and afterwards a leading character amongst the Brown- 
ists in London. In a sermon preached in St. Mary's church, 
Cambridge, 1588, Mr Johnson was charged with uttering cer- 
tain erroneous and dangers doctrines; for which he was cited 
before the vice-chancellor Dr. Nevil, and the heads of the col- 
lege, who committed him to prison. The various proceedings 



FRANCIS JOHNSON. 297 

of these ecclesiastical rulers, respecting his case, engaged the 
attention of the university for more than twelve months; some 
warmly approving, and others as severely censuring the rigor- 
ous measures adopted on this occasion. His text was 1 Peter 
i. 4. " The elders who are amongst you I exhort, who am also 
an elder." The erroneous and dangerous positions charged 
against Mr Johnson are said to have been collected from his 
sermon, and are, 1st, That the church of God ought to be go- 
verned by elders. 2d, That a particular form of church govern- 
ment is marked out in the word of God. 3d, That no other 
form ought to be used in the church. 4th, That we have not 
that form. 5th, That the want thereof is one cause of the pre- 
sent ignorance, idolatry, and disobedience. 6th, That ministers 
ought to live upon their own cures. 7th, That there ought to 
be an equality amongst ministers, which the papists do not 
relish. 8th, That we have an Amaziah amongst us, who for- 
biddeth Amos to preach at Bethel. 9th, That they do not ex- 
hort to feed the flock, but hinder those who would. 

Mr Johnson was commanded to answer to these charges, and 
declare, upon oath, what he had delivered in his sermon; which 
he absolutely refused, on the ground, that he would, in so do- 
ing, be accessary to his own condemnation. He underwent 
several strict examinations, and was committed to prison; where 
he remained a long time, and at last laid the case before lord 
Burleigh, chancellor of the university. In the meantime, 
though he would not answer on oath, he delivered his answers 
in writing; which gave no satisfaction to the rulers; but after 
rigid examination, and long imprisonment, he was enjoined, 
October 19th, 1589, to make a most ridiculous recantation from 
the pulpit of St. Mary's church. And because he performed it 
in mincing terms, something short of the prescribed form, on 
the 30th October, of the same year, he was expelled from the 
university; but not having removed from the place, he was 
again, on the 18th December, cruelly cast into prison. By the 
recommendation of the chancellor he made an appeal to the uni- 
versity against these illegal and cruel proceedings, stating the 
evil treatment he had received in a letter to his lordship; 
wherein he says, "I, a poor prisoner, overthrown by the power 
of mine adversaries in a just cause, being fully assured that 
here I can find no justice, inasmuch as the proctor has already 
been checked for doing his duty with regard to my appeal, do 
earnestly, in God's behalf, and for the sake of righteous deal- 
ing, beseech your lordship to take my cause into your hearing, 
and rescue me from this grievous imprisonment, which unde- 
servedly, the Lord of heaven knows, I sustain." Two supplica- 
tions to the chancellor, in Johnson's behalf, and signed by sixty- 

11 2p 



298 MEMOIR OF 

eight scholars, all fellows of the university, were, about this 
time, also addressed to the lord chancellor. We have reason, 
however, to believe that all these applications were unavailing; 
nor can we discover how long Mr Johnson remained a prisoner. 
The merciless and impolitic persecution of the puritans, in place 
of restoring or maintaining uniformity, operated in a directly 
opposite manner from what was intended, and confidently ex- 
pected, by these cruel and domineering prelates. A large pro- 
portion of the clergy could not, in conscience, acquiesce in the 
measure going forward, and much less could they approve of 
a church thus fighting against her enemies with such carnal 
weapons. About this period, therefore, very many pious and 
able pastors were shut up to the necessity of finally separating 
from the prelatical establishment; amongst whom was Mr John- 
son, who espoused the opinions of the Brownists, better known, 
at present, by the title of English Independents, and joined him- 
self to their congregation, which assembled privately in or about 
London. About the year 1592, this congregation becoming 
rather numerous, formed themselves into a church, and Mr 
Johnson was elected their pastor by the suffrages of the 
brotherhood; Mr John Greenwood, doctor or teacher; Messrs 
Bowman and Lee, deacons; and Messrs Studley and Kinaston, 
elders. The whole of this service was performed in one day, 
in Nicholas Lane, at the house of Mr Fox; and at the same time 
seven persons were baptized without god-fathers or god-mothers 3 
Mr Johnson only sprinkling their faces with water, and pro- 
nouncing the words, " I baptize thee in the name of the Father, 
&c." The Lord's supper was likewise administered without the 
established ceremonies. At the close they sung an hymn, and 
made a collection for the poor; and from this time forward it 
was agreed, that every new member, on his entering, should 
promise to walk with them so long as they walked in the way 
of the Lord, in as far as might be warranted by the word of 
God. 

This congregation, that they might escape the bishop's offi- 
cers, were obliged to meet in various places, often during the 
night; but were discovered on a Lord's day, in the same house, 
at Islington, where the protestant congregation were used to 
meet in the days of queen Mary. About sixty-six persons were 
taken into custody, and sent two and two to the different pri- 
sons about London, though it does not appear whether Mr 
Johnson was taken at this time; but during the present year, 
he was committed, along with Mr Greenwood, to the Compter, 
and next day committed to close prison by Whitegift and other 
commissioners. After fourteen months close confinement, he 
was brought to trial. The charge against him was merely his 
having written against the established church, and the oppres- 



FRANCIS JOHNSON. ^99 

sion of the prelates; and notwithstanding that he had been pri- 
soner prior to the enactment of the statute he was charged with 
violating, he was found guilty, and condemned to perpetual 
banishment from his country. 

Mr Barrow, Greenwood, Penry, and some others, having 
lately suffered death for tenaciously adhering to the same prin- 
ciples, the dignitaries, convinced they could neither reduce their 
number, nor even arrest the progress of puritanism by their 
sanguinary measures, without incurring the execration of all 
moderate and reasonable men, came to the resolution of banish- 
ing the most tenacious of the puritans, especially the Brownists, 
in such numbers as to clean the jails, and rid the country of a 
sect that had become a grievous eye-sore to the spiritual 
rulers. 

Mr Johnson being thus condemned to perpetual banishment, 
retired, with many of his friends, to Amsterdam, where they 
formed a church after the model of the Brownists, having the 
learned Mr Henry Ainsworth for doctor or teacher. The 
grand principle on which this church was founded may be ex- 
pressed in Mr Johnson's own words. " The church of Christ 
(says he) ought not to be governed by popish canons, courts, 
classes, customs, or by any other human inventions, but by the 
laws and rules which Christ has appointed in his testament. 
Every particular church, with its pastors, stands immediately 
under Christ, the Archpastor, without any other ecclesiastical 
power intervening, whether it be of prelates, or synods, or any 
other invention of man." 

Mr Johnson and Mr iVins worth, many years after their re- 
moving to Holland, differed concerning the discipline of the 
church. Johnson placed the government in the eldership 
alone; while Mr Ainsworth placed it in the whole church, of 
which the elders are only a part. The consequence was, that 
Mr Johnson and his party withdrew when they could no longer 
live together. Ainsworth, and those who adhered to his opi- 
nions, held a separate assembly at Amsterdam, and Mr John- 
son at last removed with his friends to Embden, where he after- 
wards died, and his congregation was dissolved. 

The principal objections of the Brownists to the church of 
England were : Her promiscuous communion, whereby profane 
persons were admitted to the privileges of the church. Her 
antichristian office-bearers, primates, metropolitans, lord bishops, 
&c. Her book of consecration of bishops, taken from the pope's 
pontifical. Her confounding the civil and ecclesiastical offices 
in the same person. Her retaining and using apocryphal books. 
Her stinted and formal prayers and liturgy, taken out of the 
pope's mass-book, with the same order of psalms, lessons, col- 



300 MEMOIR OF FRANCIS JOHNSON. 

lects, paternosters, epistles, gospels, versicles, responds, &c. &c. 
The cross in baptism, the hallowed font, and questions to the 
infant in baptism. God-fathers, god-mothers, women baptizing 
of children, which tends to perpetuate the absurd doctrine, that 
children dying unbaptized are damned. Dispensing the sacra- 
ment, not according to the institution of Christ, but in words 
borrowed from the pope's portuis. Receiving it kneeling; the 
ring in marriage; praying over the dead; churching or purify- 
ing of women. Their holidays, their fasts, or abstaining from 
flesh on their eves, Fridays, Saturdays, ember-days, and all the 
days of lent. Their dispensations to eat flesh on such forbidden 
times. Dispensations for non-residents. For holding two, 
three, four, or more benefices. Their suspensions, absolutions, 
deprivations, and degradations. Their penance in a white 
sheet; their commutation of penance, and absolving one person 
for another. The prelates confirmation, or bishoping of chil- 
dren, to assure them of God's favour, by a sign of man's devis- 
ing. Bowing at the name of Jesus. Absolving the dead who 
die under excommunication, before they are admitted to chris- 
tian burial. The popish vestments. The prelates lordly do- 
minion; their revenues and retinues. The priests' maintenance 
by tythes, christmas offerings, &c. The prelates ruling the 
church by the pope's cursed canon law. And, finally, their op- 
pressing, imprisoning, banishing, and putting to death such as 
renounce their absurdities, and refuse to witness and defile 
themselves with these and their other abominations. 

The boasted reign of queen Elizabeth, with all its popularity, 
was, nevertheless, a period of cruel persecution to all who could 
not conform to her established mode of worship; but of all the 
denominations of puritans, the Brownists or Independents suffer- 
ed the greatest severities; not because of their non-conformity 
to the vestments and ceremonies, for, in this respect, they did 
nothing more than other puritans, but, as it would seem, because 
this reforming party, who were not satisfied with loping off the 
antichristian branches, had begun to lay the ax to the root of 
the tree, by declaring that the church of England was no church 
of Christ : That her lordly prelates, and all her subaltern offi- 
cers, were none of them ministers of the New Testament, but 
intruders, who, by climbing over the wall, had taken violent 
possession of God's heritage, where, in place of feeding and 
protecting the sheep of his pasture, like hungry wolves, were 
ready to devour them. This plain dealing, on the part of the 
Independents, roused the indignation of the bishops, who mis- 
represented them to her majesty, as enemies to her person and 
government, that they might crush them under the weight of 
civil power. 



301 

CHRISTOPHER GOODMAN, B. D. 

Mr Goodman was born in the city of Chester about 1519, 
and had his education at Brazen-nose college, Oxford. After 
taking his degrees in arts, he was constituted one of the senior 
students of Christ-church, then newly founded by Henry VIII. 
Towards the end of the reign of kiug Edward, he was admitted 
to the reading of sentences, and chosen divinity lecturer in the 
university. Upon the re-establishment of popery under queen 
Mary, owing to the bloody persecution that ensued, Goodman 
retired from the storm, and took refuge at Frankfort, where he 
was soon involved in the troubles which the officious interfer- 
ence of Dr. Cox and his party occasioned amougst the English 
refugees in that place. Here, when it was proposed to make 
choice of office-bearers for the church, Mr Goodman moved, 
that they should first condescend upon some specific order of 
church regulations, and submit the same to the judgment of the 
congregation, whereby it might appear that they respected the 
opinions of their brethren, and then proceed to the election, 
which, he conceived, ought to be determined by a majority of 
the whole church; but Goodman's motions were all over-ruled 
by Cox and his party, who declared that there should be no 
other regulations than the book of common prayer. In the 
meantime, Cox had the ministers assembled at his lodgings, to 
choose a bishop and other officers agreeable to the English es- 
tablishment under Edward. The consequence of these jarring 
opinions was the breaking up of the congregation. According- 
ly, Goodman set out for Geneva, accompanied by a number of 
his associates. Here Mr Goodman and Mr John Knox, the 
famous Scotch reformer, were chosen pastors of the English 
congregation, and so continued till the death of queen Mary. 
While at Geneva, Goodman assisted John Knox in composing 
the Book of Common Order, which was to be used as a direc- 
tory of worship in the protestant congregations. 

On receiving the news of the queen's death, Goodman wrote 
a most affectionate and healing letter to their fellow-exiles at 
Frankfort, which, together with the answer, is still preserved. 
During his exile, and a short time before the death of the queen, 
a report had reached Geneva that she was dead; upon which 
Mr Goodman wrote to Mr Bartlet Green, a lawyer, a pious 
professor, and his old acquaintance at Oxford, inquiring 
whether the report was true. His friend, in reply, said, " The 
queen is not yet dead." This letter was intercepted, and the 
writer apprehended, committed to the tower, and after a long 
imprisonment, tried, condemned, and committed to the flames 
by the blood-thirsty Bonner, 



30 c 2 MEMOIR OF 

During his residence in Geneva, Mr Goodman took an active 
part in the translation and publication of the Geneva bible. 
Having finished the translation some short time after the acces- 
sion of Elizabeth, Goodman returned from exile, but not to 
England in the first instance. He went into Scotland to his 
friend Mr Knox, and was for several years actively employed 
in preaching, and otherwise promoting the reformation in that 
country. In 1560, having preached for some time at Ayr, the 
committee of parliament, who nominated the ministers for the 
principal towns in Scotland, appointed him for St. Andrew's, 
where it was considered necessary that the officiating minister 
should be a man of established reputation. About this time a 
public disputation was held at Edinburgh between the protes- 
tants and papists, when Dr. Anderson, Dr. Leslie, Mr Mirton, 
and Mr Strachan, supported the doctrines of the popish church 
against Mr Knox, Mr Wilwick, and Mr Goodman. The points 
in dispute were, the holy eucharist and the sacrifice of the altar. 
The papists gave out that they had so completely foiled their 
antagonists, that they would never again encounter them. The 
nobility, however, who attended the dispute, were of a different 
opinion. In 1560, Mr Goodman attended the general assembly 
as minister of St. Andrew's, together with David Spence and 
Robert Kynpont, his assistant elders. In 1562 he was appoint- 
ed, together with Mr John Row, minister of Perth, as assistants 
to John Erskine of Dun, in the visitation of Aberdeen and 
Banffshire. And in 1563 he argued, in opposition to Mr Se- 
cretary Lethington, that the tythes ought to be appropriated to 
the clergy. Lethington being hard pressed by the arguments 
of his antagonist, dropt some ungenerous hints, that strangers 
took too much upon themselves who intermeddled with the 
affairs of a foreign commonwealth. To which Mr Greenwood 
modestly, but firmly replied, " My lord secretary, though I am 
a stranger to your state policy, and conduct myself as such, yet 
in the kirk of God, the concerns of which are now under our 
serious consideration, I am no stranger here more than if I were 
in the metropolis of England." 

In 1564 he was appointed to preach at Edinburgh, during the 
absence of Mr John Craig, one of the ministers of the city, who 
had been appointed to visit some of the southern departments 
of the kingdom. The assembly that met, June 25th, 1565, 
marked him out for numerous appointments, some of which he 
had no opportunity of fulfilling, inasmuch as he had returned 
to England before the meeting of the assembly, on the 25th of 
December, the same year; which is noticed in the church regis- 
ter, that " Commissioners from St. Andrew's appeared, request- 
ing that Mr John Knox might be transplanted to -St. Andrews* 



CHRISTOPHER GOODMAN. 303 

The assembly refused their request, and desired them to choose 
a minister, in place of Mr Christopher Goodman lately depart- 
ed to England, out of their own university." 

In 1568 Mr Goodman became chaplain to Sir Henry Sidney^ 
in his expedition to Ireland against the rebels, where he evinced 
the greatest diligence and integrity in that service. In 1571 he 
was cited before archbishop Parker, and others of the high 
commission, at Lambeth. Mr Goodman, while in exile, had 
written a book with the following title : " How superior powers 
ought to be obeyed by their subjects, and wherein, according to 
God's word, they may be lawfully disobeyed and resisted; 
wherein also is declared the cause of all the present misery in 
England, and by what means the same may be remedied." In 
this work Mr Goodman spoke with considerable freedom against 
the government of women, but especially against the bloody 
proceedings of queen Mary. From this book, however, after 
the lapse of so many years, the archbishop selected certain pas- 
sages, which he charged against him as dangerous and seditious, 
and which he required Mr Goodman to revoke. This, for some 
time, he refused; but before he could procure his liberty, he 
was obliged to subscribe the following recantation : 

" Forasmuch as the extremity of the times, in which I wrote 
my book, overturned the true worship of God, by setting up 
idolatry, banishing good men, murdering the saints, and violating 
all promises made to the professors of the true religion. Mov- 
ed by grief and indignation at such cruelty and tyrannical ex- 
ertions of power, I did write many things, which may be, and 
are offensively taken; which, under less galling circumstances, I 
would not, and now wish I had not, written. But notwith- 
standing of these offensive sentiments contained in the book 
aforesaid, I hereby confess and protest, that good and godly 
women may lawfully govern whole realms and nations; and 
with my whole heart allow, that the government of her majesty, 
queen Elizabeth, is most lawful, and pray for the long continu- 
ance of the same. Neither did I ever mean to affirm that any 
person, or persons, by their own authority, ought, or might 
have lawfully punished even the cruel queen Mary with death. 
Nor yet that the people, by their own authority, may lawfully 
punish their magistrates for transgressing against the precepts 
of God. Nor that God ordinarily puts the sword of justice into 
the hands of the people, even though they seek after the right 
execution of the laws. Wherefore, as many of these assertions 
as may be fairly collected from my said book, them I do utterly 
renounce, and revoke, as none of mine; promising never to write, 
teach, or preach, any such offensive doctrine; but shall, by 
God's grace, endeavour to promote the true service of God, 
and obedience to her majesty. — Christopher Goodman." 



304- MEMOIR OF 

Mr Goodman's recantation is conceived with considerable 
art; the tenor of which is, That the eligibility of female govern- 
ment consists in their goodness and holiness : That the power 
of punishing criminal magistrates, if it does not rest with indi- 
viduals, exists at least in parliaments or councils; and that, as 
a last, though no ordinary alternative, the people themselves 
possess this power. In the year 1584 Mr Goodman was living 
in or near the city of Chester, where he seems to have been 
silenced; and archbishop Whitegift having, about this time, 
pressed the subscription of his three articles on the godly min- 
isters in those parts, Mr Goodman informed the earl of Leices- 
ter, how the papists in Cheshire, and other places, were exulting 
at the severities and cruel proceedings of the archbishop. 
Whitegift, however, denied the fact, and charged Goodman with 
perverseness in refusing conformity to the established order. 

We have not been able to procure any farther account 
of this godly man till he was on his death-bed. At this time 
Mr James Usher, afterward the celebrated bishop of Armagh, 
came over to England to purchase books for the college library 
at Dublin, and paid him a visit; when Usher was so deeply im- 
pressed with the holy conversation of this venerable man, that 
when he himself became old, he often repeated the wise and 
grave speeches of his long-departed friend. Mr Goodman died 
in 1602, aged eighty-three years, and his remains were interred 
in St. Werburg's church, in the city of Chester. 

Fuller designates him a leader of the fierce non-conformists. 
Wood says he was a most violent non-conformist, more rigid 
in his opinions than even his friend Calvin. Mr Leigh calls 
him a learned, good, and holy divine. 

Mr Goodman published the two following articles : 1st, How 
superior powers ought to be obeyed by their subjects, and 
wherein they may be lawfully disobeyed and resisted, 1548. — 
2d, A Commentary on the Book of Amos. " Wood ascribes 
the first blast of the trumpet, against the monstrous regiment 
of women, to Mr Goodman;" but this is wrong, he only wrote 
the preface to that work. It is well known that the book itself 
was written by John Knox. 



JOHN RAINOLDS, D. D. 

This very learned divine was born at Penhoe, near Exeter, 
in 1549, and educated in Corpus Christi-college, Oxford. At 
first he was a zealous papist, and Ins brother William a pro- 
fessed protestant; but disputing with one another the merits of 
their respective creeds, each, it is said, convinced his antagonist; 



JOHN RAINOLDS. 305 

so that William became a zealous papist, and John a protestant; 
which he had no sooner done, than he applied himself to the 
study of the scriptures, and soon became a celebrated preacher. 
In 1578 he was chosen to perform the two acts of the universi- 
ty, which gained him great celebrity; and during the following 
year he was appointed to the reading of the sentences. By 
these exercises he was soon drawn into the popish controversy, 
where the papists were anxious to eclipse his reputation; but 
this only stirred him up to prepare himself for the combat. In 
order to this, he read and studied, with unparalleled rapidity, 
the Greek and Latin fathers, and perused all the ancient eccle- 
siastical records he could find. By these laborious means he 
soon became a complete master of the controversy, and tho- 
roughly acquainted with the errors and superstitions of the Ro- 
man church. 

About this time John Hart, a zealous papist, and celebrated 
for his controversial talents, had the confidence to challenge all 
the learned men in the country to try the doctrine of the 
church. No one was accounted a better match for this insult- 
ing champion of Rome than John Rainolds, who was therefore 
solicited by one of her majesty's privy council; but after several 
severe conflicts, Hart was obliged to retire, and leave the field 
in the possession of his triumphant antagonist. This conference 
was subscribed by the parties, and afterwards published; which 
gave full satisfaction to all unprejudiced readers, and so greatly 
raised the fame of Rainolds, that he was immediately taken 
notice of at court. After taking his degrees in divinity, the 
queen appointed him divinity lecturer at Oxford. In these 
lectures he encountered Ballarmine, the redoubted champion of 
the Romish church. Ballarmine was public reader in the Eng- 
lish seminary at Rome, and his sentiments in defence of mother- 
church were taken down as they were delivered, and transmitted 
to Rainolds by a correspondent, from time to time, which he 
commented upon at Oxford; and thus Ballarmine's books of con- 
troversy were refuted before they were published to the world. 
The queen being informed of Rainolds' fame and success against 
the champions of Rome, preferred him to a deanery in Lincoln, 
and even offered him a bishoprick; which last he modestly re- 
fused. 

On the 12th January 1588, Dr. Boncraft, chaplain to arch- 
bishop Whitegift, maintained, in a sermon, preached at Paul's 
cross, that bishops were of a different order from priests, and 
had a superiority over them by divine right, and that directly 
from God. In these times this doctrine was novel and strange 
even to the bishops themselves. Prior to this, it was under- 
stood, that all the superiority of the bishop over the priest or 

11 2 2 



306 MEMOIR OF 

presbyter was by human appointment, and devised in the third 
or fourth century; but Boneraft' gratified the pride and ambi- 
tion of the prelates by this new gloss, and though it gave great 
offence to most of the clergy, and especially to the puritan di- 
vines, still it furnished the prelates with an additional argument 
against their controversial antagonists. Sir Francis Knolls told 
the archbishop, that Bon craft's opinion was contrary to the com- 
mand of Christ, who prohibited all superiority amongst his apos- 
tles; but doubting his own judgment, Sir Francis requested Dr. 
Rainolds to give his opinion of this new doctrine; which he did in 
a letter at considerable length. Wherein he observes, that all 
who have laboured to reform the church for the last five hundred 
years, have uniformly taught, that all pastors, whether called 
bishops, priests, or presbyters, have an equal authority in the 
church. The Waldenses, for example; and after them, Marsi- 
lius Patavinus; then Wickliff and his scholars; afterwards Huss 
and his followers, Luther, Calvin, Brentius, Bullenger, and 
Muscalus. Amongst ourselves, we have bishops, the queen's 
professors of divinity, and other learned men, Bradford, Lam- 
bert, Jewel, Pilkington, Humphrey, Fulke, &c. But why do 
I mention individuals ? It is the opinion of all the reformed 
churches, Helvetia, Savoy, Scotland, France, Germany, Hol- 
land, Hungary, Poland, and also our own. I hope Dr. Bon- 
craft will acknowledge that he was overseen when he avouched 
that bishops have a superiority in the church of Christ by divine 
authority. 

About 1599 Dr. Rainolds resigned his deanery of Lincoln, 
and the mastership of Queen's college, on his election to the 
precedency of Corpus Christi-college. In which situation, 
though he did not continue more than eight years, his labours 
were rendered singularly useful. In 1600, he was nominated 
one of the divines to attend the conference at Hampton-court 
on the part of the puritans. On the episcopalian side were, 
archbishop Whitegift, eight bishops and eight deans, with the 
king at their head. On the puritan side, Dr. Rainolds, Dr. 
Thomas Spark, Mr Laurence Chaddertou, and Mr John Knew- 
stubs, all nominated by his majesty. Dr. Rainolds, in the 
name of his brethren, humbly presented the following requests ; 
1st, That the doctrine of the church should be preserved pure, 
according to the word of God. 2d, That good pastors should 
be planted in all churches to preach the same. 3d, That church 
government should be sincerely administered, according to the 
rule laid down in the New Testament; and 4th, That the book 
of common prayer should be revised and improved to more in- 
crease of piety. These propositions comprehended almost all 
that the principal puritans desired ; but however moderate they 



JOHN RAINOLDS. 307 

may appear, not one of them was granted. When the puritan 
ministers wished to commence the discussion of the business 
on which they were avowedly called together, the king would 
not permit them to proceed; but rising from his chair, he said, 
" If this be all your party have to say, I will make them con- 
form, or I shall hurry them out of the country, or do worse !" 
Dr. Rainolds and his colleagues, finding they had no liberty of 
speech, and that it was useless to attempt a reply, remained in 
silence; while their antagonists, in the transports of victory, in- 
sulted and laughed them to scorn. This meeting was therefore 
justly called the mock conference of Hampton-court; and, ac- 
cording to some, was intended as a blind to facilitate the intro- 
duction of prelacy into Scotland. In 1604, the king appointed 
Dr. Rainolds one of the translators of the present authorised 
version of the bible, on account of his great skill in the Hebrew 
and Greek languages: but he did not live to see the work com- 
pleted. He fell into a consumption in the midst of this labori- 
ous undertaking; yet he continued to lend his assistance till al- 
most the last day of his life. During his sickness, his learned 
brethren in Oxford met at his lodging regularly once a week, to 
compare and correct their notes, till the last week of his life. 

During. his last sickness, his time was employed in prayer, 
in hearing persons read, and in conferring with the translators. 
During his life, Dr. Rainolds had been a strenuous opposer of 
the errors of popery; and now, on his death-bed, the papists pro- 
pagated scandalous reports concerning the nature of his disease, 
and began to insinuate that he had recanted. To counteract 
this malicious slander, his friends were anxious to have some 
testimony of his faith previous to his departure. This being 
signified, he shook his head, but could not speak. His friends 
proposed to draw up a few lines in writing, which he might en- 
deavour to subscribe; to this he gave signs of full approbation. 
Accordingly, the following paper was drawn up, viz. " These 
are to certify to all the world, that I die in the profession of 
that faith which I have all my life taught, both in my preach- 
ing and in my writings, and endeavoured to recommend by a 
corresponding deportment, with an assured hope of salvation^ 
only by the merit of my Saviour Jesus Christ." Which paper 
being twice distinctly read to him, after seriously pondering the 
contents, he put on his spectacles, and subscribed his name in 
very fair characters. Next day, with his eyes lifted up to hea- 
ven, he breathed his soul into the arms of his only hope and 
Redeemer, being the 21st May 1607, and sixty-eighth year of 
his age. His remains were interred in the college chapel, with 
great funeral pomp, being attended by the vice-chancellor, the 
heads of the colleges, and the mayor and aldermen of the city- 



308 MEMOIR OF 

Dr. Henry Airoy, vice-chancellor, preached his funeral sermon; 
and Mr Isaac Wake, the university orator, delivered a funeral 
oration, in which he gave him the following character : 

" However others may have admired his knowledge, his hu- 
mility, and incredible self-denial, in all which he was passing 
wonderful, yet I do, and ever must, admire, above all, his indif- 
ference as to preferment, which so many consider the only point 
to which they ought to direct their most ardent exertions. 
Neither Luther, nor Calvin, nor Beza, nor Whitaker, can chal- 
lenge any honour that Rainolds has not merited. I cannot 
therefore help congratulating our country where he was born; 
our mother, the university, where he was educated; and that 
house, ever pregnant with excellent wits, where he first learned 
the rudiments of his exquisite literature." Dr. Crackenthrop, 
his intimate acquaintance, says concerning him, " That he turn- 
ed over all writers, profane, ecclesiastic, and divine, and all 
the councils, fathers, and histories of the church ; That he was 
most excellent in all tongues, either useful or ornamental to a 
divine : That he had a sharp and ready wit, a grave and mature 
judgment, with a habit of unparalleled industry : That he was 
so well skilled in all arts and sciences, that it seemed as if he 
had spent his whole life in the study of each; and what is su- 
perior to all, the virtue, integrity, piety, and holiness of his life, 
were so eminent and conspicuous, that to name Rainolds, is to 
commend virtue itself." Bishop Hall used to say, " That Dr. 
Rainolds alone was a well furnished library, full of all faculties, 
all studies, and all manner of learning; and that his memory 
and reading were both so extensive, that ordinary men consid- 
ered him a literary prodigy. He was wonderful in reading, 
famous in doctrine, and the very store-house of erudition. In 
a word, nothing can be, nothing has been, spoken against him, 
only that he was the pillar of puritanism, and the undeviating 
opposer of all superstition and human inventions in the church 
of Christ." — Like the cities of Greece, which contended for the 
honour of being the place of Homer's nativity, Fuller insinu- 
ates, and Crackenthrop attempts to prove, that Rainolds was no 
puritan, but a true conformist, and, of course, one of their own 
party. In this attempt, however, they have proved altogether 
unsuccessful; for besides subscribing the book of discipline, he 
utterly disapproved of the ceremonies; and though, as a colle- 
gian, he wore the round cap, he refused to wear the clerical ha- 
bits. Granger says, that Dr. Rainolds was generally reputed 
to be the greatest scholar of his age; and that his memory was 
so retentive, that he scarcely knew what it was to forget. That 
he was considered a match for Ballarmine, the goliah of the 
Roman church; and that he was called a living library, and 
sometimes a third university. 



JOHN RAINOLDS. 309 

His works consisted of, 1st, Two Orations. — 2d, Six Thesis. 
— 3d, A Sermon on the Destruction of the Idumeans. — 4th, The 
sum of a Conference between John Rainolds and John Hart. — 
5th, The overthrow of Stage Plays. — 6th, An Epistle to Thomas 
Pye. — 7th, A Defence of the Judgment of the Reformed 
Churches. — 8th, The Prophecy of Obediah opened and applied. 
— 9th, A Letter to his friend concerning the Study of Divinity. 
—10th, The Discovery of the Man of Sin.— 11th, The Origin 
of Bishops and Metropolitans briefly laid open. — 12th, Judg- 
ment concerning Episcopacy. — 13th, The Prophecy of Haggai 
interpreted and applied. — 14th, Answer to Nicholas Saunders, 
his Book De Schismate Anglicano, in defence of our Reforma- 
tion. — 15th, A Treatise of the beginning and progress of the 
Popish Errors. — He also published several translations of the 
works of other learned men. 



THOMAS HOLLAND, D. D. 

This celebrated literarian was born at Ludlaw, in Shrop- 
shire, in 1593, and educated in Exeter college, Oxford, where 
he took his degrees with great applause. In 1589 he succeed- 
ed Mr Laurence Humphrey as king's professor of divinity; and 
being accounted a prodigy in almost all parts of literature, he 
was elected master of Exeter college, 1592. Dr. Holland's 
distinguished reputation was not confined to his own country; 
he was also admired in the foreign universities; and many per- 
sons, eminent for learning and piety,^ afterwards became con- 
spicuous ornaments, both in the church and state, who had been 
his scholars. 

In his views of the doctrines of the gospel, the doctor was a 
thorough Calvinist; and with respect to the rites and ceremo- 
nies of the church of England, a determined non-conformist. 
In a public sermon at the university, he boldly maintained, 
that bishops were no distinct order front presbyters, and that, 
by the word of God, their power and authority in the church 
were by no means superior. He opposed, with laudable zeal, 
the doctrines, worship, and ceremonies, that Boncraft, Neile, 
and Laud, intended to introduce into the university of Oxford. 
And while William Laud, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, 
was performing his exercise for bachelor of divinity, having 
maintained that there could be no true church without diocesan 
episcopacy, Dr. Holland sharply rebuked, and publicly disgrac- 
ed him for thus endeavouring to sow discord amongst brethren, 
and between the church of England and the reformed churches 
on the continent In the course of the same year Dr. Holland 



310 MEMOIR OF THOMAS HOLLAND. 

was one of the Oxford divines appointed by king James to draw 
up a new translation of the bible, and had a considerable share 
in that learned and laborious work. 

Towards the close of his life, this much esteemed, and highly 
renowned servant of Christ, spent much of his time in prayer 
and meditation. Sickness, age, and its attendant infirmities, 
only served to increase his ardour for heaven, he longed to be 
dissolved, and to be with Christ. This world, with all its va- 
nities, had no charms to attract his attention. Heaven was the 
mark to which his faith, love, and all the desires of his soul were 
now directed; and finding that the hour of his departure was at 
hand, he exclaimed, " Come, thou bright morning star, come, 
O come, Lord Jesus, the desire of my soul is to be with thee." 
He died, March 17th, 1612, aged seventy- three years, and his 
remains were interred in the chancel of St. Mary's church, Ox- 
ford, with great funeral solemnity, and universal lamentation. 

Mr Kilby, who preached his funeral sermon, says concerning 
him, " That he had a wonderful knowledge of all the learned 
languages, and of all arts and sciences, both human and divine : 
That he was mighty in the scriptures, and as familiarly ac- 
quainted with the fathers as if himself had been one of them; 
and so thoroughly versed in the schoolmen, that he was most 
worthily accomplished for filling the divinity chair, which he 
held for about twenty years with distinguished approbation and 
applause. He was so celebrated for his preaching, reading, 
disputing, moderating, and other excellent qualifications, that 
all who knew him commended, and those who heard of him, 
admired him. His life and conversation corresponding with his 
other good qualities, it was difficult to determine which was 
most to be admired. Some great scholars, in proportion as 
they become famous, decline in well-doing; others spread out 
the wings of their ambition, and soar away in quest of riches, 
honour, and preferment; but his learning was so sanctified and 
qualified by the grace of God, that love, joy, peace, gentleness, 
meekness, and brotherly-kindness, shone most conspicuous in 
his conversation amongst men; while heaven, the port to which 
he directed his course, and spread all his sails, was the prime 
object of his ambition." The Oxford historian denominates Dr. 
Holland a solid preacher, a most noted disputant, and learned 
divine. 

He published several learned Orations, and a Sermon on 
Matt. xii. 42. and left a number of Manuscripts ready for the 
press, which, by falling into the hands of men inimical to his 
puritanical sentiments, were never printed. 



311 



HUGH BROUGHTON. 

This laborious literarian, and celebrated writer, was born 
at Oldbury in Shropshire, bordering on Wales, in 1549, and 
descended of an ancient family. He was educated in grammar 
learning under the famous Bernard Gilpin, at Houghton in 
the Spring, near Durham, who sent him to Christ-college, Cam- 
bridge, where he was afterwards chosen fellow. He was also 
elected one of the taxers of the university, preferred to a pre- 
bend in the church of Durham, and chosen reader of divinity 
in the same place. In 1579, after having enjoyed his fellow- 
ship several years, he was deprived of it by the vice-chancellor 
and others, not for want of learning, or any blemish in his 
character, but for some trivial irregularity in his admission, or 
in the execution of his office. He was a man of celebrity, and 
had many friends, who, at this juncture, pled his cause, and 
gave high commendations of his character. The bishop of 
Durham became his zealous advocate, and wrote a letter, dated 
December 14th, 1579, to lord Burleigh, chancellor of the uni- 
versity, warmly soliciting that Mr Broughton might still con- 
tinue to hold his fellowship, notwithstan cling his preferment at 
Durham. In consequence of this, and a letter jointly addressed 
to the chancellor, by the earls of Huntingdon and Essex, in 
which they speak in high commendation of his learning, obedi- 
ence, and circumspection. The chancellor wrote to the vice- 
chancellor and the master of the college, in which he warmly 
expresses his disapprobation of their conduct, and that of the 
fellows, on their unjust treatment of Mr Broughton. Accord- 
ingly, after much opposition, he was again admitted to his fel- 
lowship by an order of the chancellor. In the meantime, he 
generously resigned the office of taxer for the university. It 
does not appear, however, that he returned any more to the 
college. 

Some time after this he removed to London, where he had 
many worthy friends, amongst whom were the earls already 
mentioned, with Sir Walter Mildmay and others. About the 
same time he entered on the ministerial function, but still pur- 
sued his studies with inflexible perseverance, usually spending 
fourteen or sixteen hours a-day in the most intense application. 
In his sermons he commonly chose a text from the old, and 
another from the New Testament: and after discoursing pretty 
largely upon them, in their connection, he concluded with a 
short, but close application of the doctrine. Thus, in a short 
time, his preaching became extremely popular, particularly 
amongst the more learned; but that which, more than any thing 
else, rendered him known to the world, was the publication of 



S12 MEMOIR OF 

his book, entitled, " A Consent of Scriptures." This was a 
kind of scripture chronology and geneology, designed to show 
the chronological order of events from Adam to Christ, and 
harmonize the apparently jarring passages. It was the fruit of 
immense labour and study, and was published in 1588. The 
famous John Speed superintended the press. It was dedicated 
to queen Elizabeth, and presented to her majesty, by his own 
hand, in 1589. In his dedication, he says, " The whole book 
of God, most gracious sovereign, is so harmonious in itself, that 
every part thereof may be seen to breathe the same spirit. The 
prophecies briefly told, the events fully recorded, the temple, the 
altar, the sacrifices, all pointing to one centre, shows, that by 
Christ, the great propitiatory, the Son eternal, we are made 
heirs of the heavenly inheritance. To these truths all other, 
Hebrews and profane Greeks, bear ample testimony, even against 
themselves. These helps are stars in the story; and all this 
frame-work, coupling of joints, and proportion of body, will 
allure to study, when it is seen, that this one work, religion, and 
God's way of salvation, has occupied all families, countries, and 
ages, in building or pulling down." 

The learned author has taken great pains in showing, that the 
heathen chronology is full of contradictions and inconsistencies; 
while the sacred records are clear of these imperfections. The 
book, however, was no sooner published than it was opposed. 
The archbishop at first disliked the performance to that degree, 
that he would have called the author to account for some senti- 
ments therein expressed; and Mr Broughton, apprized of White- 
gift's intention, fled into Germany, which greatly increased the 
clamour against the book; but bishop Aylmer, in commending 
the work, declared, that one good scholar would prove all its 
enemies to be foolish and ignorant declaimers. Nevertheless, 
Dr. Rainolds of Oxford, and Mr Lively of Cambridge, both 
learned professors of these universities, read publicly against it. 
Mr Broughton used to call this work his little book of great 
pains, for it cost him many years study; and when completed 
and published, it cost him a great deal of trouble in defending 
it. By permission of the queen and council, he entered on its 
defence in public lectures in St. Paul's church, where the lord 
mayor, some of the most learned of the bishops, and other peo- 
ple of distinction, were of his audience. Others of the bishops, 
however, could not endure these lectures, calling them conven- 
ticles dangerous to the estate of the church; and entering com- 
plaints on this ground, had his lectures put down. He and his 
friends, after this, convened at various places in the city as op- 
portunity offered. He mostly resided at the house of Mr Wil- 
liam Cotton, whose son, afterward Sir Rowland, he instructed' 



HUGH BROUGHTON. 313 

in the Hebrew language. His young pupil obtained such a 
proficiency in the language, that at the age of seven or eight 
years he could translate almost any chapter of the bible into 
English, and converse in Hebrew with the greatest ease. Mr 
William Cooper, afterwards bishop of Gallway, was another of 
his pupils. Mr Broughton's method of instruction was singu- 
lar; he had his young pupil constantly with him, and invariably 
required him to speak, both to himself and others acquainted 
with the Hebrew, in that language. He also drew up a voca- 
bulary, in which he fixed upon some place or thing, then named 
all the particulars belonging to it; such as heaven, angels, sun, 
moon, stars, clouds, &c. or a house, doors, windows, parlours, 
&c. a field, grass, flowers, trees, &c. Mr Broughton, before 
setting out for Germany, wrote a letter to his friend lord Bur- 
leigh, dated March 27th, 1590, desiring permission to travel, 
particularly with a view to make use of king Casimer's library; 
and he no doubt obtained the favour. He was always firm, 
and a determined defender of what he considered to be the 
truth; on which account he sometimes brought himself into 
awkward situations, by openly exposing the errors of popery. 
He had a public disputation with Rabi Elias, a learned Jew, in 
the synagogue at Frankfort. They disputed under an oath or 
imprecation, that God might immediately strike him dead, who, 
on that occasion, should speak contrary to the dictates of his con- 
science. In the conclusion, the Jew departed, desiring to be 
farther instructed by his writings. x\n account of this dispu- 
tation reached Constantinople, where it excited a very consi- 
derable sensation amongst the Jews in that city. Two Italian 
Jews, who had seen Mr Broughton's works, particularly what 
he had written on Daniel, believed, and were baptized at Zu- 
rich. " Another (says he) is now in England, as I understand, 
who, by my means, embraced the gospel." In 1591 Mr 
Broughton returned from the continent, for the purpose of set- 
tling the controversy between himself and Dr. Rainolds. He 
had an anxious, but absurd, desire to have it adjusted by public 
authority. In one of his letters to the queen, he says, speakiug 
of himself and his antagonist, " His fame for learning, and my 
more confident resistance, may induce many to think that the 
scriptures are difficult to be understood, when two men labour 
so long without deciding, in one way or other, the point in dis- 
pute. The fault is intolerable either in him or me, and the 
faulty should be forced to yield, that none may think amiss of 
the word of God." He earnestly solicited the queen to com- 
mand the archbishops and both universities to determine the 
points in contest between him and his learned antagonist. The 
controversy, however, was at last decided by the arbitration of 
12 2 r 



814 MEMOIR OF 

Whitegift and bishop Aylraer; and though a reconciliation could 
not be fully effected, the result was greatly in favour of Brough* 
ton. The following year he again set out for Germany. The 
archbishop was his powerful adversary at court, and hindered 
the queen from preferring him, as, it is said, she intended. It 
has even been positively asserted, that he laid wait for him, and 
offered a sum of money for his apprehension. During his abode 
in Germany, he formed an acquaintance with the learned 
Scaliger, Rephelengius, Junius, Beza, and other celebrated 
scholars. He was particularly favoured by the archbishop of 
Mentz, to whom he dedicated his translation of the prophets 
into Greek. He was highly esteemed by many of the learned 
Jesuits; and though a bold and inflexible enemy to popery, he 
was offered a cardinal's cap. 

The article of our Saviour's descent into hell began about this 
time to be called in question. It had hitherto been the received 
doctrine of the church of England, that the soul of Christ, be- 
ing separated from his body, descended into hell; that as he 
had already conquered death and sin, he might triumph over 
satan. However, Broughton, the very Babi of the age, suc- 
ceeded in convincing the world, that the word hades, as used by 
the fathers for the place where Christ went after his crucifix- 
ion, did not mean hell, or the place of the damned, but the state 
of the dead, or the invisible world. He was the first of our 
Countrymen who gave this explication; but his opinion, now 
generally and justly received, met with great opposition at the 
time. Mr Broughton was so celebrated for his knowledge in 
all kinds of Hebrew learning, that he was invited to Constan- 
tinople to instruct the Jews in the christian religion. And 
king James of Scotland invited him to become a Hebrew pro- 
fessor in one of the Scotch universities. 

Mr Broughton directed his elaborate studies chiefly to a mi- 
nute examination of the scriptures in their original languages. 
He found the authorized version of the bible very defective, and 
used his utmost endeavours to obtain a new translation. 
Anxious to accomplish this desirable object, he addressed a 
letter to Sir William Cecil, lord high treasurer, wherein he 
says, " That sundry lords, some bishops, besides doctors, and 
other inferiors of all sorts, have requested me to bestow my 
long studies, in Hebrew and Greek writings, in clearing up the 
translation of the bible. They judged rightly that it stands in 
want of amendment; but in what points I judge it improper to 
tell till the thing be accomplished, lest it should throw the pre- 
sent translation into disgrace. That it is susceptible of much 
improvement, every person of understanding and conscience 
must allow; besides, it is long since this motion was made to 



HUGH BROUGHTON. 315 

the queen, who sent a message to Sir Francis Walsingham to 
take the matter into consideration; but other weighty affairs 
have hitherto prevented. In the meantime, I have been at 
much trouble and expence in preparing for that business, and 
have likewise solicited some who appeared fittest and worthiest 
to be contributors to the expence; and your lordship I consider 
one of the worthiest to be a contributor, for the maintenance of 
some six of us, who have been the longest students of the lan- 
guages in question, to join together in the work. Not to alter 
any thing where amendment is unnecessary, nor to pass any 
thing where it is; by which means Job and the prophets may 
be brought to speak far better than they do at present. Where 
all may have short notes, with geographical maps, and chrono- 
logical tables, to which, if it please your lordship to be a ready 
helper, your example will stir up others to lend their hand to a 
more needful concern than the repairing of the temple in the 
days of king Josiah." This generous proposal was, neverthe- 
less, attended with unsurmountable difficulties; and however 
willingly the treasurer would have patronized the laudable de- 
sign, it could not be undertaken at the time. Mr Broughtonfs 
second return from the continent was when the plague was 
raging in London; and his friends were not a little surprised to 
see him returned during so great a national calamity. He 
was, however, cheerful, and quite unalarmed with respect to 
the distemper. His conversation savoured much of heaven, 
and he spoke greatly to the comfort and edification of his friends. 
In 1603 he preached before prince Henry of Oatlands. He did 
not continue long, however, in his native country, but went a 
third time to the continent, and was chosen preacher to the 
English congregation at Middleburg. During his abode in this 
place, he sent the following petition to king James, now of 
England. 

" Most Gracious Sovereign, 

"Your majesty's most humble subject, Hugh Broughton 5 
having suffered many years persecution, for publishing your 
right, and God's truth, by your unlearned bishops, who spent 
two impressions of libels to disgrace their Scottish mist; which 
libels their stationers declare they never sold. He requesteth 
your majesty's favour for a pension fit for his age, studies, and 
past travel, bearing always a most dutiful heart to your ma^ 
jesty. 

" Your most humble Servant, 

" Hugh Broughton. 
"From Middleburg, August, 1604." 

While residing at Middleburg, besides the care of his -congre- 
gation, he published his smart discourse against Archibald Bon= 



316 MEMOIR OF 

craft, and sent the whole impression to Mr William Cotton, 
younger brother to Sir Rowland, then residing in London, re- 
questing him, if he durst venture, to deliver a copy into the 
hands of the archbishop. Mr Cotton was not without his ap- 
prehensions; but could not think of refusing to answer the re- 
quest of his friend. Accordingly, he waited on the archbishop; 
and having made the requisite apology, he delivered a copy of 
the book into his hand, very politely asking his grace's pardon 
for the boldness he had taken. Boncraft treated him with all 
the civility that could have been desired. He was no sooner 
dismissed, however, than the archbishop's officers came to his 
lodgings; and seizing all the copies of the book they could pos- 
sibly find, carried them away. This the archbishop found to be 
the easier, and by far the shortest way, to answer the charges 
and arguments of his learned antagonist. 

Mr Broughton having a dangerous complaint settled on his 
lungs, and desirous to breathe his last in his native country, he 
returned the third and last time to England, where he landed 
in November 1611. He told his friends that he was come to 
leave his bones in his native country, and that, if it was the 
will of God, he wished to die in Shropshire, the place of his 
birth. Sir Rowland Cotton, his former pupil, was anxious to 
gratify his old master in all his desires, and supply his wants, 
and for this purpose had suitable accommodations prepared for 
him at his own house in Shropshire. He continued in London, 
however, during the winter; and in the spring following, re- 
moved to an agreeable situation in the vicinity. During his 
confinement under his present affliction, he gave his friends 
many pious and profitable exhortations. He often urged them 
to the exercise of practical religion, saying, " Study your bibles, 
labour for the edification of one another; be peaceable, mind 
your own affairs. Some judgment will assuredly come upon 
this kingdom ; but popery you have no reason to fear, it will 
never again overspread the land; but the course the bishops are 
taking will unavoidably fill the country with atheism; but keep 
your hands clean, and keep clear of the quarrel." As he drew 
towards his latter end, he said, " Satan has been assaulting me; 
but the Son of God hath rebuked him, and spoken comfortable 
things to my soul." A little before his death he became speech- 
less; and some of his friends asking, Whether they should pray 
with him ? He signified his warmest approbation, by holding up 
both hands; and soon after the prayer was ended, he breathed 
his last, on the 4th of August 1612, and in the sixty-third year 
of his age. His remains were interred in St. Autholin's church, 
London, with great funeral solemnity. His funeral sermon 
was preached by Mr Speght, from John xi. 8.; but the bishops 
would not suffer it to be printed. 



HUGH BROUGHTON. 317 

Mr Broughton was a student of indefatigable application, 
and a most celebrated scholar and linguist. His temper was, 
however, remarkably tinged with austerity. Amongst friends, 
however, he was affable and affectionate. In opposing error 
and impiety he was bold and severe, and would not fail to re- 
prove sharply whatever it might cost him. He was free, easy, 
and communicative to such as wished to learn; but apt to lose 
his temper when his scholars could not comprehend the direc- 
tions he was giving them. As a writer, his style is rough and 
obscure; and in our times, he would be considered too vain, 
and much too severe to his literary opponents. 

The greatest, the most worthy, and even the most popular 
of men have had their enemies; nor has Mr Broughton been 
singular in this respect. He has been charged by Mr William 
Gilpin with ingratitude, and that he endeavoured to supplant 
the very man who supported him both at school and the col- 
lege, even the patron, who raised him up. Of this, however, 
Mr Gilpin has neglected to bring forward any evidence; which, 
in a matter of this importance, he certainly ought to have done, 
especially after Mr Broughton was gone, and could no longer 
defend himself. Gilpin, moreover, charges him with paying a 
servile court to the vulgar, in the capacity of a popular preacher. 
It would, however, appear from the tenor of his life and man- 
ners, that servility was no part of his character. 

Mr Gilpin has likewise said concerning him, that he outlived 
his credit, and became the jest of the stage; but Gilpin might 
have said the same, with equal propriety, of the famous Socrates, 
who was represented on the Athenian theatre as the man in 
the clouds; besides, the numerous authentic testimonies of his 
character, given in the foregoing narrative, sufficiently repels 
the ungenerous assertion. The learned Dr. Lightfoot, who 
wrote his life, declares himself, compared to this great master 
of Hebrew and Rabinical learning, but a child. Mr Strype 
also asserts, that in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and all tal- 
mudical literature, Mr Broughton was certainly the greatest 
scholar in Europe. 

Most of his works were collected in 1662, and printed in 
London, in one large folio, divided into four tomes, with his 
life prefixed by Dr. Lightfoot, and his funeral sermon, preached 
by Mr Speght, inserted towards the end of the work, with the 
following title : " The works of the great Albionian divine, re- 
nowned, in many nations, for his rare skill in the languages of 
Salem and Athens, and for his familiar acquaintance with all 
Rabinical learning, Hugh Broughton." There are many manu- 
scripts of his own hand writing still preserved in the British 
museum; some of them are on literary subjects, others on con- 



318 MEMOIR OF 

troversy, and a number miscellaneous; these are thirty -five in 
all, and bound in one volume quarto; besides which, there is 
also the Manuscript of his Harmony of the Bible. 



ROBERT PARKER. 

This persecuted puritan became rector of North-Benflete 
in Essex, 1571; which, the following year, he resigned for that 
of West-Henningfield, in the same county, where he remained 
for several years; after which he was appointed pastor of the 
church of Dedham, also in Essex. He was suspended by bishop 
Aylmer for refusing to subscribe to Whitegift's three articles. 
Being restored to his ministry some time after, but with pro- 
viso, that after a certain day, which was stated, if he did not 
fully conform to the articles, he should be deprived; which 
there is reason to believe he was. Having endured these trou- 
bles, he left the county of Essex, and was, some time after, 
beneficed at Wilton in Wiltshire, where he continued many 
years; 

In 1598, bishop Bilson having published a work, in which he 
avers, that Jesus Christ, after his death upon the cross, actu- 
ally descended into the regions of the damned. Many learn- 
ed divines undertook to refute this, and establish the op- 
posite opinion. Mr Parker, amongst the rest, published a 
learned piece, entitled, "De Descensu Christi ad Infernos;" 
for which he was ridiculed by the opposite party. The cele- 
brated Dr. Ames, however, says concerning the work, " That 
it is a performance of such beauty and energy, that it dazzles 
the eyes even of envy itself." These right reverend and jeer- 
ing ecclesiastics had done themselves more honour, had they 
discovered an ability to answer it; but they took a much more 
prudent, and a less laborious, method of managing this trouble- 
some concern. They persuaded the king to issue his royal 
proclamation, with a tempting reward offered for apprehending 
the author; which obliged Mr Parker to conceal himself, till an 
opportunity arrived for retiring to a foreign country. While 
thus lurking amongst his friends, the argus-eyed archbishop 
Boner aft had information that he was concealed in a citizen's 
house in London, and immediately set a watch, while others 
were ready prepared with a warrant to apprehend him. Bon- 
craft's spy having fixed himself at the door, had knowledge of 
his being in the house, and considered himself sure of his prize; 
but Parker, dressing himself in the habit of a citizen, ventured 
forth,' though with small hopes of getting clear off. The watch- 
man at the door, however, at this critical moment, observing 



ROBERT PARKER. 319 

his intended bride pass on the other side of the street, stept over 
to speak with her; and Mr Parker, in the interim, passed un- 
observed; and the officers, with their warrant, were subjected 
to suffer the mortification of a mysterious disappointment. 

After this signal interposition of providence, he retired to the 
house of a friend in the vicinity of London, where a servant in 
the family again furnished tbe archbishop with information of 
his place of retreat; and Boncraft's officers actually searched 
the house where he was. The only apartment which they ne- 
glected to search was that wherein he was concealed; from 
which he heard them cursing and quarrelling. Some said the 
room had not been examined, others that it had, and would not 
suffer it to be searched again; by which oversight Mr Parker 
was preserved from an apprehension, which, from the humour 
of the king, and the malicious spirit of the bishops, would, in 
all likelihood, have cost him his life. After these remarkable 
deliverances, Mr Parker fled from the storm that was gathering 
around him, by embarking for Holland; and would have been 
chosen pastor to the English church at Amsterdam, had not the 
apprehension of offending the king of England prevented. Thus 
disappointed at Amsterdam, he went to Doesburg, and became 
preacher to the garrison, where, about eight months after his 
departure from England, he died. 

During his short abode at Doesburg, he wrote several very 
affectionate letters to Mr Paget, minister at Amsterdam, where- 
in he discovers a becoming spirit of resignation to the will of 
God. He thanks him for the pains he had taken in his behalf, 
though without success. " At which (says he) I am not in the 
least moved, knowing that it is the will of God, and that he 
will be my God wherever he has appointed me to go." 

Mr Parker has the undisputed character of an able writer, a 
man of great learning and piety, a studious scholar, and labori- 
ous preacher. Besides the work above mentioned, Mr Parker 
was author of De Politia Ecclesiastica; in which he maintains, 
that whatever relates to the church must be deduced from 
scripture. " We deny no authority (says he) to the king in 
matters ecclesiastical, only what Jesus Christ, the alone head of 
his church, has appropriated to himself, and denied to commu- 
nicate to any of the children of men, whatever be their wisdom, 
power, or place in human society. We hold, that Christ alone 
is the doctor or teacher of his own church, and that the word 
of Christ, which he has given to his church, is of itself complete 
and perfect : That it contains all parts of true religion, both for 
substance and ceremony; a perfect direction in all ecclesiastic 
matters, to which it is unlawful for men or angels to add. and 
from which nothing is to be abstracted." 



320 MEMOItt OF 

WILLIAM BRADSHAW, A. M. 

This bold defender of the puritan doctrines was born at 
Market-Bosworth in Leicestershire, in 1571, a descendant of 
the Bradshaws of Lancashire, and had his education in Ema- 
nuel college, Cambridge. Having taken his degrees, he was re- 
commended by Dr. Chadderton, and became tutor to the chil- 
dren of Sir Thomas Lighton, governor of Jersey. While in 
this situation, he formed an intimate acquaintance with Mr 
Thomas Cartwright, which nothing but death could dissolve. 
On his return to Cambridge he was chosen fellow of Sidney 
college, then newly erected, where he discovered great pru- 
dence and piety, and became highly respected. His disposition 
was sweet, and his conduct, in every respect, so agreeable, that 
even his enemies were constrained to speak well of him. Upon 
his settlement at Cambridge, he entered into the ministerial 
office, and was not particularly urged to strict conformity. He 
preached at Abington, Bassingborn, and Steeple-Morton, near 
Cambridge; but did not settle at either of these places. 

Having received a pressing invitation from the people of 
Chatham in Kent, he became their pastor in 1601. Here he 
had the consolation to see, that his labours were attended with 
the blessing of God, and the conversion and edification of mul- 
titudes of the people, both men and women; so that his fame 
was spread abroad, and vast numbers flocked to his ministry. 
His great popularity, however, soon stirred up the spirit of en- 
vy, which hitherto had lurked in the breasts of other ministers 
in the neighbourhood. It being considered necessary to have 
this settlement confirmed by the archbishop of Canterbury, Sir 
Francis Hastings wrote a pious and very modest letter for that 
purpose; when, at this critical juncture, his enemies, and what 
good man ever wanted such, accused him to the archbishop as 
a preacher of erroneous doctrine. This, in place of a confirm- 
ation, procured for him a citation to appear by nine o'clock next 
morning before his grace of Canterbury, and the bishop of Lon- 
don at Shorne, a short way from Chatham. Mr Bradshaw ap- 
pearing at the time and place appointed ; the bishop of London, 
after asking certain questions, charged him with having taught, 
that no man is bound to love God, unless he be sure that God 
loves him. Mr Bradshaw positively denied the charge, and 
offered to produce a whole cloud of respectable witnesses to dis- 
prove these false and malicious allegations, and to prove what 
he had really taught the people. But this reasonable privilege 
was denied him; and to cut the work short, and secure their 
victim, to silence his arguments, and get rid of one who ecclips- 
ed their fame, and whose labours upbraided their indolence, he 



WILLIAM BRADSHAW. 8 c 2l 

was required to subscribe to the common prayer. This he could 
not, with a good conscience, and therefore would not subscribe. 
On his refusal he was suspended, bound over to appear again 
when called for, and very humanely dismissed. This unexpected 
and melancholy occurrence occasioned much grief and lamenta- 
tion amongst Mr Bradshaw's congregation at Chatham ; while his 
exulting enemies could not restrain their malicious joy. His nu- 
merous flock, who had attended his ministry with peculiar satis- 
faction, were extremely anxious to have him restored, and there- 
fore drew up a supplication, in name of the parishioners of Cha- 
tham, which they presented to the bishop of Rochester, earnestly 
desiring the restoration of their beloved pastor. In this supplica- 
tion, after exposing the lying charges brought against him by 
his adversaries, they declare, " That Mr Bradshaw's doctrine 
was always sound, holy, learned, and utterly destitute of fac- 
tion and all manner of contention : That his life was ornament- 
ed with such unblemished virtue, that malice itself could not 
condemn him; and that his whole energies had been exerted in 
bearing down wickedness, in comforting the faithful, and in- 
structing the ignorant, without at all meddling with the con- 
troversies of the day." But all was to no purpose; the de- 
cree had gone forth, and the pious Bradshaw was obliged to 
take farewell of his beloved people. During these adverse-look- 
ing dispensations, Providence provided him with an asylum in 
his forlorn situation, a comfortable retreat under the roof of Mr 
Alexander Redich of New-hall, near Burton-upon-Trent. This 
worthy gentleman not only sheltered him in his house, but also 
provided him with a license, from the bishop of Coventry, to 
preach wherever he pleased within his diocese; which favour 
was continued till the death of the bishop. In this retired situ- 
ation Bradshaw preached for some time in the chapel ; but his 
audience increasing daily, it was soon found too small for con- 
taining them; after which he occupied the parish church of 
Stapenhill. This he continued for about twelve years without 
receiving any thing from the parish. He was, nevertheless, 
well supported by his generous patron, in whose family he liv- 
ed, and had the kindest treatment. He was, after this, chosen 
lecturer of Christ-church, London; but the bishop refused him 
his allowance. 

Conformity to the established church was now enforced witli 
more than ordinary rigour, which induced several worthy di- 
vines to state their grievances, their exceptions, and the grounds 
and reasons of their dissent, and also to repel the arguments of 
their persecutors. In this necessary but dangerous enterprise, 
Mr Bradshaw was the most conspicuous. He replied to Dr, 
Bilson's celebrated work, said to be the best book that had ever 

12 2 s 



3%% ' MEMOIR OF 

been written in defence of prelacy. He likewise answered Dr. 
Downham on the same subject. These two notable champions 
for episcopalian ceremonies, had treated the puritans with un- 
common severity, stigmatized them with the odious appellations 
of fanatics, schismatics, and enemies both to God and the king. 
In order to remove these slanders, and give the world a correct 
statement of their principles, Mr Bradshaw published his 
" English Puritanism, containing the opinions of the most rigid 
of those called puritans in the realm of England." In this ad- 
mired work, Mr Bradshaw states, that the puritans maintain 
the scriptures to be absolutely perfect, and consequently the 
only ground of all religious opinion, both concerning faith and 
manners, and the only legitimate rule and directory for govern- 
ing the church of Christ: That whatever has been, or may be, 
introduced into the church as parts of divine worship, not war- 
ranted by the scripture, is unlawful, and altogether inconsistent 
with the character of the New Testament church. " This (says 
he) is the ground on which the puritans found their opinions 
and practice; and, corresponding with this sentiment, they fur- 
ther maintain, that the pastors of particular congregations are 
the highest spiritual officers in the church of Christ, over whom 
Christ himself is the only superior : That a pastor of pastors is 
an idea nowhere to be found in the New Testament; and that 
such as arrogate to themselves this lordly superiority, are led 
by the spirit of antichrist : That every particular church has 
power to elect its own officers, and censure its own members; 
and that to force a congregation to support a person, either un- 
able or unwilling to instruct them, is alike oppressive and 
unjust." 

At this period, all books, published in defence of the puritans, 
were considered dangerous both to church and state, and were 
therefore no sooner put into circulation, than the bishop's offi- 
cers were on the allert to seize them, or their authors, wherever 
they could be found. Accordingly, Mr Bradshaw being in 
London, two pursuivants were sent to his lodgings to apprehend 
him, and search for his books; but Mr Bradshaw was not at 
home; and though they broke open chests, trunks, boxes, and 
critically examined every apartment, no books could be found; 
Mrs Bradshaw having taken the precaution, not more than 
half-an-hour before their arrival, to throw all the offensive 
books into a dark hole, between two chimnies. Angry with 
their disappointment, in neither finding books nor author, they 
meanly carried Mrs Bradshaw before the high commission, 
where she underwent a severe examination, with the evident 
intention to make her betray her husband; but finding their de- 
sign completely frustrated, after binding her to appear when 



WILLIAM BRADSHAW. 323 

called, she was dismissed. In 1617, on returning from a jour- 
ney, Mr Bradshaw was saluted by the bishop's chancellor, with 
a suspension from all preaching without his further permission. 
By the intercession of a worthy friend, however, he withdrew 
his suspension, and Bradshaw proceeded peaceably in the course 
of his ministry. 

Besides his stated labours as a preacher at Stapenhill, Mr 
Bradshaw united with his brethren in their associations at Ash- 
by-de-la-Zouch, Repton, and Burton-upon-Trent. On these 
occasions, besides their public preachings for the benefit of the 
congregations, the ministers had private religious conference 
amongst themselves, w v hen they proposed subjects of discussion 
for their mutual edification and advantage; on which occasions 
Mr Bradshaw is said to have discovered a depth of judgment, 
and a power of balancing points of controversy, far superior to 
his brethren. He was well-grounded in the fundamental doc- 
trines of the gospel, and understood the controversy betwixt the 
prelates and puritans as well as any man in England; but he 
was averse to a separation. 

Under his last sickness, Mr Bradshaw had very humiliating 
views of himself, and exalted views of God, and the power of 
his grace. He exhorted all about him to learn the art of dying, 
ere death made his approach, and to lay a foundation in the 
time of life and health, that might stand them instead in a time 
of sickness and death. He was seized by a malignant fever at 
Chelsea, in the neighbourhood of London, which baffled the 
power of medicine, and carried him off in 1618, aged forty- 
seven years. His remains were interred at Chelsea, and most 
of the ministers of London attended his funeral solemnity. 
The funeral sermon was preached by his. affectionate friend, 
Mr Thomas Gataker; who said concerning him, " That he was 
studious, humble, and affectionate, liberal, upright, and pos- 
sessed of all the delicate feelings of pity and commiseration : 
That he was endowed with a sharp wit and a clear judgment, 
a quick apprehension, a powerful delivery, with a singular dex- 
terity in discovering the turning points of a controversy." The 
celebrated bishop Hall says, " He had a masculine judgment, 
and a spirit above taking offence at trifles, or alienating him- 
self from his friends on account of small matters of difference 
in opinion; and that, notwithstanding his seeming austerity, he 
was pleasant in conversation, and full of witty urbanity. In 
argument, he was ardent, cordial in his friendships, regardless 
of the world, a despiser of compliment and cringing servility, 
full of digested learning and rare notions, and, withal, a painful 
and patient labourer in the work of God." 

His works are, 1st, A Treatise of Divine Worship? tending 



324 MEMOIR OF 

to prove, that the Ceremonies now imposed on the Ministers of 
the Gospel in England are in their use unlawful. — 2d, A 
Treatise of the nature and use of things indifferent, tending to 
prove, that the Ceremonies, included in the present Controver- 
sy, are neither, in nature or use, indifferent. — 3d, Twelve 
Arguments, proving that the Ceremonies imposed upon the 
Ministers of the Gospel in England, by our Prelates, are un- 
lawful, and therefore the Ministers who refuse them are very 
unjustly branded with disloyalty to the King on that account. — 
4th, A Protestation of the King's Supremacy, made in the 
name of the afflicted Ministers, in opposition to the shameful 
Calumniations of the Prelates. — 5th, A Proposition concerning 
kneeling in the very act of receiving. — 6th, A short Treatise of 
the Cross in Baptism. — 7th, A consideration of certain Arch- 
iepiscopal Positions. — 8th, A Preparation to the Lord's Supper. 
— 9th, A Marriage Feast. — 10th, A Meditation on Man's Mor- 
tality. — 11th, Sermons on the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians. 
-*— 12th, A Treatise of Christian Reproof. — 13th, Of the Sin 
against the Holy Ghost. — 14th, A twofold Catechism. — 15th, 
An Answer to Mr James Powel. — 16th, A Defence of the 
Baptism of Infants. — 17th, The unreasonableness of Separation 
from the Church. 



THOMAS WILSON. 

This faithful servant of Christ was many years minister 
of St. George's church, Canterbury, chaplain to lord Wotton, 
and a man of high reputation. He was a hard student, pos- 
sessed of a strong constitution, and deservedly famous for his 
assiduity and regularity in performing the different duties of his 
office. He preached always thrice, and frequently seven times 
in the course of the week. As his gifts were great, so also 
were the trials he had to undergo. He had to contend with 
enemies, both open and secret, false teachers, and false brethren, 
who endeavoured to compass his ruin; but from them all the 
Lord vouchsafed to deliver him. He was once complained of 
to the archbishop Abbot for non-conformity; but through the 
kind interference of lord Wotton, he escaped the snare. He 
manifested a great concern for his flock during his life, by his 
laborious preaching, expounding, and catechising ; and, at his 
death, with his dying breath, he charged Dr. Jackson, his chief 
patron, as he would answer to the great Shepherd, that he 
would provide them with an able and a sufficient pastor. The 
doctor promised to attend to his request; but, said he, it will be 
a difficult matter to find another qualified to fill your place with 
so much success and approbation. 



THOMAS WILSON. 3%5 

His funeral sermon was preached by Mr Swift, who gives 
the following account of this faithful servant of Christ : " That 
he was a man called to work in his Master's vineyard, and well 
qualified for the business committed to his care. A judicious 
divine, sound in the faith, an excellent interpreter of scripture, 
and an enemy to all superstition and idolatry; for which he in- 
curred the displeasure of those who were otherwise disposed. 
That he was richly furnished with excellent gifts, which he 
wholly employed in the service of the bountiful giver : That he 
had received ten talents, which were wholly laid out in his Mas- 
ter's service. He preached at Canterbury thirty-six years, dur- 
ing which long period he was always abounding in his Master's 
work, and had the happiness to know that he had not laboured 
in vain." He died January 1621. 

His works are, 1st, A Commentary on Romans. — 2d, Christ's 
Farewell to Jerusalem. — 3d, Theological Rules. — 4th, Holy 
Riddles. — 5th, A complete Christian Dictionary. — 6th, A Dia=* 
logue about Justification. — 7th, A Receipt against Heresy, 



WALTER TRAVERS, B. D. 

This celebrated divine was educated at Trinity college, 
Cambridge. He afterwards travelled to Geneva, where he 
formed an intimate and a lasting friendship with Beza, and 
other learned men. On his return to Cambridge, where he re- 
mained some time, he took his degree in divinity. In 1572 he 
was member of the first presbyterian church in England, erect- 
ed at Wondsworth in Surrey. While the prelates were impos- 
ing subscription to the liturgy on ministers with relentless se- 
verity, and demanding an exact conformity to all their ceremo- 
nies, a great many learned men, who held conscientious scruples 
against the English form of ordination, went over to the con- 
tinent, to Middleburg, Antwerp, and other places, and there 
received ordination according to the manner of the foreign re- 
formed churches, which, in their opinion, was much more 
agreeable to the word of God. Amongst those who adopted 
this course was Mr Travers, who travelled to Antwerp, and 
was there ordained by the presbytery, as appears by his honour- 
able testimonial to that effect, dated May 14th, 1578. Soon 
after his ordination he became assistant to Mr Cartwright, then 
preacher to the English company at that place. He was a man 
highly distinguished for prudence, piety, and learning; and on 
his return to England, the lord treasurer Burleigh made choice 
of him for his domestic chaplain, and tutor to his son Robert, 
afterwards earl of Salisbury. The treasurer was a constant 



326 MEMOIR OF 

friend and patron to the non-conformists, and evidenced his af- 
fectionate regard for them daring his whole life. On the 
present occasion, in the face of the whole kingdom, he counten- 
anced this excellent man, and received him into his family, not- 
withstanding of his non-conformity. Mr Travers could not 
subscribe, and, of course, was incapable of any considerable 
preferment in the church: which otherwise his noble patron 
was ready to bestow upon him. The lecturer's place at the 
temple becoming vacant, the learned gentlemen of that society 
invited him to take it; and forasmuch as no subscription was 
required, he accepted the invitation. In 1583, a short time be- 
fore Dr. Alvey departed this life, the doctor, with the learned 
gentlemen of that society, recommended Mr Travers for his 
successor. The doctor and Travers had lived together in great 
concord and brotherly affection. They united in mutually for- 
warding the work of reformation in the place, and with much 
zeal, prudence, and resolution, joined in promoting genuine 
piety amongst the learned benchers, by whom they were both 
highly esteemed for their work's sake. The above recommend- 
ation and request were presented to the treasurer, who commu- 
nicated the same to the queen, signifying to her majesty his ap- 
probation of their choice. But by the strenuous endeavours, 
and superior influence of Whitegift, who most vigorously op- 
posed his admission, by signifying to the queen, that he was one 
of the principal authors of dissention in the church; that he 
despised the book of common prayer; and, moreover, that he was 
ordained abroad, and not according to the form of the church of 
England- — Mr Travers was therefore rejected. He justified him- 
self, however, against all these false charges, and proved the vali- 
dity of his ordination. During the above year, Mr Travers was 
engaged in a public conference at Lambeth. Archbishop White- 
gift and the bishop of Winchester on the one side; and Mr 
Travers and Dr. Thomas Sparke on the other. The first day's 
conference was held on the 10th December, in presence of the 
earl of Leicester, lord Gray, and Sir Francis Walsingham. 
The subjects of discussion were confined to such things in the 
book of common prayer as were complained of by the puritans. 
The conference was opened by the archbishop with the follow- 
ing declaration : " My lord of Leicester having requested, for 
his own satisfaction, to hear what the ministers could reprove, 
and how their objections might be answered, I have granted his 
request. Let us then hear what things in the book of common 
prayer you think ought to be reformed, altered, or amended. 
You now appear before me, not in a judicial capacity, or called 
in question by authority, but merely to discuss the propriety of 
reviewing the book of common prayer, for the purpose of learn- 



WALTER TRAVERS. 3^7 

ing wliat alterations or amendments, if any, are necessary. 
You shall therefore be free to charge the said book with what- 
ever faults it may contain." 

The conference was long; however, that we may gratify the 
inquisitive reader, we give a specimen thereof as follows : The 
archbishop having ended, Dr. Sparke replied, " We thank God, 
and your lordship, that after so many years, wherein our cause 
could never be allowed an impartial hearing, it hath pleased 
God, in his goodness, so to order matters, that we are now fa- 
voured with this desirable privilege, and that before such ho- 
nourable and learned judges, which, we fondly hope, may be a 
mean, in the hand of God, to induce her excellent majesty to 
promote a further reformation in such things as are needful; 
and we embrace, with heartfelt gratitude, the opportunity thus 
given us, freely to declare, for the satisfaction of those in autho- 
rity, what things we humbly conceive ought to be reviewed 
and reformed in the public service of God; and seeing the fa- 
vourable issue must depend upon his blessing, I desire, before 
we proceed farther, that we may implore his merciful and gra- 
cious direction." Dr. Sparke accordingly was about to pray, 
when he was interrupted by the archbishop, who said, " Yon 
shall make no prayers here. You shall not turn this place into 
a conventicle ! !" 

The two chief points urged against the common prayer book 
by these divines, were the appointment of certain apocryphal 
writings in the public worship of God, in which were several 
errors and false doctrines, while many parts of the canonical 
writings, and the doctrine of the sacraments, were omitted, 
which, they maintained, made the apocrypha equal, if not su- 
perior, to the scriptures. 

Archbishop. The books called apocrypha are indeed parts of 
the scriptures; they have been read in the church in ancient 
times, and ought to be still read amongst us. 

Travers. The title holy scripture is that by which the Holy 
Ghost distinguisheth the canonical writings from the apocry- 
pha, and all other uncanonical books. 

A. The apocrypha was given by the inspiration of God, as 
were also all whatsoever the heathen have written well. 

T. In the general sense of the word inspiration, what your 
grace has said of the apocrypha is true; for no man can say that 
Jesus is Lord, but by the spirit. The present question, how- 
ever, relates to such an inspiration as that which moved and 
governed the holy men of God in reporting and setting down 
those things, so that they could not possibly err. In this sense 
the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, and they only, 
are holy, and given by inspiration of God, and herein they dif- 
fer exceedingly from the apocrypha, and all other writings. 



328 MEMOIR Of 

Sparke. Private baptism appears, in several respects, at vari-* 
ance with the word of God; 1st, being done in private; 2d, by 
laymen; Sd, by women; and 4th, inasmuch as the doctrine im- 
plied in all this unnecessary despatch is, that the child dying 
unbaptized is in danger of damnation; and, on the other hand, 
that outward baptism secures its salvation; either of which are 
erroneous. 

A. The place is not of the substance of the ordinance, it has 
been administered privately in times of persecution, and may 
be again. 

T. That is no part of the present question, we are now 
speaking of baptism in time of peace. 

A. The persons, no more than the place, are parts of the ordi- 
nance of baptism; and as in times of persecution, as well as in 
some other cases, private men have baptized, it may be done so 
again. As for the baptism by women, though I would not 
allow them to baptize, neither doth the book appoint them to 
do so, yet will I not deny their baptism to be lawful. I 
would rather have a child so baptized, than die without bap- 
tism. Though I do not affirm that the child dying without 
it is lost; yet because I should fear and doubt the safety of their 
state, I would have them baptized by a woman, rather than not 
at all. — This closed the first day's conference. 

On the 12th December they met again, when the archbishop 
of York and the lord treasurer were added to their number. 
The archbishop introduced the business of the day, by recapi- 
tulating what had been done on the former occasion, and order- 
ed Dr. Sparke and Mr Travel's further to enumerate their ob- 
jections to the book of common prayer. But his grace's re- 
capitulation having been somewhat imperfect, Dr. Sparke took 
the liberty to subjoin what he had omitted; after which they 
proceeded as follows : 

A, Cyprian, and others of the ancient fathers, avouch the 
apocrypha as part of the scriptures. 

T. Some of the fathers having alleged that it is part of the 
scriptures, is not so strong an evidence that it is so, as the total 
silence of Jesus Christ and his apostles, is that it is not. 

Lord Treasurer. That is no good argument. You can never 
form a syllogism of it. 

T. Whatever our Saviour and his apostles alleged not, can 
be no part of the prophetical writings, if they alleged all the 
prophets. But our Saviour and his apostles alleged all the 
prophets, without alleging any part of the apocrypha; therefore 
the apocrypha can be no part of the prophetical writings. All 
the prophets from Samuel, and those that follow after, as many 
as have spoken, having foretold the days of Christ. 



WALTER TRAVERS. 329 

S. Some passages of scripture, introduced into the common 
prayer, are made to speak the very reverse of the original. 
Romans, chap. iv. is entirely perverted. For whereas the 
apostle saith, " Cometh this blessedness upon the circumcision 
only, or upon the un circumcision also?" The book, by law 
appointed to be used in the service of God, reads quite the 
contrary. Likewise the cv. Psalm, where, in the original, 
and in all good translations, the expression is, " They were not 
disobedient to his word;" but in the church's prayer-book it 
reads, " They were not obedient;" which means the very opposite. 

A. There may be some ambiguity in the Hebrew word. 
Having no knowledge of the language, I cannot tell; but you 
can. . <► 

T. and S. There is not the least ambiguity in the word. 

A. In baptism there is nothing belonging to the essence of 
that sacrament, but merely the element and the word; and with 
regard to the place, you will allow, that in times of persecution 
it is not unlawful to baptize in private places. 

T, The question is applicable to a peaceable state of the 
church, such as the church of England presently enjoys. 

A, As the place is no part of the sacrament of baptism, so 
neither is the person; but at some times, and in different cases, 
laymen, nay, women, may baptize. May not a christian bap- 
tize when living in a state of persecution, or supposing he lived 
in the West Indies? 

T. Your grace's remarks' are not pertinent. We are not now 
discussing extraordinary cases, but how baptism ought to be ad- 
ministered in the church of Christ under ordinary circumstan- 
ces. But even in the cases you have supposed, it is not lawful 
for any one to administer the sacraments without some extraor- 
dinary call from God, or some ordinary call from the church; 
for no man taketh this honour to himself, but he that is called 
of God. I 

Archbishop of York. I disallow of private baptism altogether, 
and have forbidden it to be used in any part of my diocese. I 
have spoken to the queen about it, and I will not suffer it. 

A. Calvin held that baptism was necessary, and reproved the 
anabaptists for deferring it too long. 

T. Calvin did not consider baptism necessary, on any other 
account, than that it might not be omitted by negligence and 
contemjft, no more than did the reformed churches on the con- 
tinent. 

S. Circumcision was the same to the Jews that baptism is to 
us christians; and if it had been so essentially necessary for the 
salvation of the children of the Jews, no doubt God would have 
commanded it to be performed at the birth, and that by laymen, 

12 2t 



330 MEMOIR OF 

or even by women ; which not having been done, seems to de- 
stroy the necessity so strenuously contended for. 

A. The necessity of private baptism is so guarded in the ar- 
ticles, as to clear the church of England of these errors. 

T. The doctrine of the articles is good and holy; but the ne- 
cessity of baptism, as laid down in the prayer book, is so great, 
and so pressing, that it must not be put off till an ordinary op- 
portunity occur, but must be done instantly, if laymen, or even 
women, should administer it in whatever place this necessity 
occurs, often where there is not even time to perform the cere- 
mony, and pronounce the words, least the child be dead amongst 
their hands. To reconcile this hurried administration of a so- 
lemn and divine ordinance with* the word of God, I, for one, 
consider altogether impossible. 

$. To question the child if it believes, and be answered by 
another person that it does, must, in spite of every apology that 
can be made in its defence, be a flagrant untruth, at variance 
even with the common sense of mankind, and utterly at vari- 
ance with the scriptures. 

A. Augustine says, the child may be said to believe, because 
it receives the sacrament of faith. 

S. The question in baptism is put before the sacrament is re- 
ceived; but supposing it were not, the sponsor may say the 
child believes; but what man, in his senses, will believe this 
same sponsor ? How is it possible that any man can credit an 
assertion labouring under both a moral and physical impossi- 
bility ? And with regard to the cross in baptism, and other 
ceremonies therewith connected, were they ever so ancient, or 
ever so good in their original institution, being unnecessary in 
themselves, and now abused to idolatry, they ought to be aban- 
doned. Like the brazen serpent, originally appointed by God, 
and afterwards kept as a monument of his special favour, till 
abused to idolatry, when it was utterly destroyed, and all this 
by the will of God; even so the cross in baptism, never having 
been of any use in the church, but, on the contrary, abused to 
idolatry as much as ever the brazen serpent had been, ought to 
be abandoned. To impose the use of the cross in baptism, as 
necessary to that ordinance, is not only unsupported by scrip- 
ture, and altogether built on the basis of superstition, but a 
dangerous appendage added to the all -wise and gracious ap- 
pointment of God. Neither is this my individual opinion, but 
that also of all the foreign reformed churches; as you may per- 
ceive by perusing the harmony of confessions. As to Beza, he 
had too much liberality to condemn any church for using the 
cross, seeing he respected the liberty of sentiment due to all 
men. Nevertheless, his opinion is, that the using of the cross 



WALTER TKAVERS. 331 

ought to be abolished; nay, more, the same Beza recommends it 
to ministers rather to forego their ministry, than, in opposi- 
tion to their conviction, subscribe to that unscriptural, and alto- 
gether unnecessary ceremony. 

Leicester. What a pity that so many of our best ministers, 
and most assiduous preachers, have suffered themselves to be 
deprived for these unimportant things. 

T. My lord, we freely acknowledge that the peace of the 
church of Christ is a matter of singular importance; never- 
theless, peace without, or contrary to the truth of the gospel, 
must necessarily become a sacrifice whenever it comes in 
competition with the commandments of Jesus Christ. This is 
the doctrine of the New Testament, and on this ground I rest 
the positive assertion, that such ministers as have withstood 
these idle ceremonies, have done well in rejecting the counsel 
of men, which their consciences informed them was opposed to 
the will and unerring commandments of infinite wisdom, even 
at the expence of their ministry. What, in comparison to 
this, are all the commandments and traditions of men ? What, 
in matters of such unspeakable importance, were the authority 
of angels ? If you love me, says Christ, keep my command- 
ments. These are simple. His yoke is easy, his burden is light; 
the whole system of his religion unadulterated, is pure, and 
easily comprehended; but the ceremonies that foolish men have 
foolishly introduced, are void of meaning, destitute of import- 
ance, without use, and without edification. 

A. From the letter of Dr. Ridley, now read, you see that he 
approved of the habits. 

S. Mr Fox, in his book of martyrs, reports, that Ridley, at 
his degradation, scorned the habits, saying, they were foolish 
and abominable, too fond for a vice in a play. 

A. You will call in question also the authority and jurisdic- 
tion of the bishops. 

T. We object to the prayer-book, because it sets up a ministry 
directly opposite to the authority of scripture, as appears from 
1 Tim. iii. and Titus i. 

Treasurer. What scripture can you produce to prove that he 
who administers the sacraments should also preach ? 

T. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them, 
&c; w^ch things being thus joined together by the command 
of Christ himself, none but Christ has authority to part them 
asunder; nor is that merely our opinion, the reformed churches 
on the continent hold it both in faith and practice. 

A. The apostolic rule, which you have alleged, is only an 
idea of a minister. 

T. To make it merely an idea would overturn the whole 



332 MEMOIR OF 

system of revealed religion; because if this commandment of 
Christ was merely an idea, all the duties commanded by him 
would fall equally under the appellation of ideas; hence his 
command, to believe in his mission, to love one another, to do 
to others as we would be done to; in short, all the law of 
Moses, and all the requisite duties of society, might, on the very 
same ground, and with equal propriety, be denominated ideal. 
Treasurer. It is impossible. 

T. If the churches, in times of bloody persecution, have in- 
variably observed this order, it can surely be no very difficult 
matter for us in a state of peace. — Here the conference closed, 
and the company separated. 

Mr Strype has published to the world, that the ministers 
were convinced on this occasion, and that they conformed; but 
it is obvious he had not known the men; besides, he acknow- 
ledges that he had never seen the debate. Travers continued 
a non-conformist till the day of his death; and Dr. Sparke ap- 
peared at the head of the puritans, before the king at Hampton- 
court conference, twenty years after this period. 

Mr Travers continued lecturer with Mr Hooker, the new 
master of the Temple, for about the space of two years, but with 
little peace. Travers being a strict Calvinist, and the other 
less restricted in his opinions, which occasioned him consi- 
derable uneasiness, and finally lost him the situation. Many 
of their sermons being on points of controversy, respecting the 
doctrine, discipline, and ceremonies of the church; and each 
maintaining his favourite opinions, it was no uncommon thing 
to hear the morning sermon controverted in the afternoon, and 
vindicated next Lord's day. Hooker at last complained; and 
Whitegift, apparently well pleased at the opportunity, without 
the least warning, silenced Mr Travers from preaching either at 
the Temple or any where else in the realm of England. The 
reasons given for this unmerciful severity of the archbishop are, 
that Travers was not ordained according to the rites of the 
church of England : That he had preached without a license : 
That he had broken through her majesty's orders; and that 
controversies ought not to be carried on from the pulpit. Mr 
Travers presented a supplication to the council in vindication 
of himself. In this paper he complains, that he was condemn- 
ed without being heard, and that contrary to every tl^ng like 
honesty and fair dealing; he was silenced before he was exa- 
mined. He then proceeds to answer the allegations against him. 
1st, It is said I am not lawfully called nor qualified to be a mini- 
ster in England, not being ordained according to the laws of this 
country. I beseech your lordships to consider, that such is the 
communion of saints, that every solemn act done in one true 



WALTER TRAVERS. 333 

church, corresponding with the word of Christ, is recognized 
by all other true churches. The making or ordaining of a mi- 
nister being once lawfully done, ought not to be repeated; be- 
cause to repeat our ordination, would be to annul and make 
void our former ordination; and, of consequence, marriages, 
baptisms, and all such other acts as had been done in virtue 
thereof, would also naturally become void; and by acting on the 
same principle, people removing from one kingdom to settle in 
another, ought to be rebaptized and married again. But why 
should I urge the inconvenience attending such a mode of pro- 
cedure, while the plain letter of the law speaks directly to the 
point in question. By the statute 13th Eliz. those ministers 
who have been ordained in foreign protestant churches, on sub- 
scribing the articles therein specified, are held fully qualified to 
enjoy all the privileges and immunities that can be claimed by 
those ordained according to our own laws and regulations; in 
consequence of which law, many Scotch divines are now enjoy- 
ing benefices in the church of England. 

The lords of the council, to whom Travers had presented his 
supplication, did not choose to interfere, and so he was left to 
the mercy of the archbishop, who could never be prevailed upon 
to remove his suspension, or even license him to preach in any 
part of the kingdom. Mr Travers had many powerful friends, 
even the lords of council themselves were much divided on this 
case; and all who opposed Whitegift's intolerant measures were 
his friends; but the archbishop's power and influence with the 
queen were beyond control. 

About this time Travers was invited to become professor of 
divinity in the university of St. Andrews; which he refused, 
with thankful acknowledgments for the honour intended him. 
His celebrity being universally known, Dr. Loftus, archbishop 
of Dublin, and chancellor of Ireland, who had been his col- 
league at Cambridge, and knew his abilities, invited him to take 
the provostship of Trinity college, Dublin; which, having no 
prospect of a restoration to his beloved ministry, he accepted. 
In this new situation he was much admired, and had, for one of 
his pupils, Mr James Usher, afterward the famous archbishop 
of Armagh, by whom he was held in such high estimation and 
regard, that neither time, nor the change of circumstances, 
could ever alter or impair; for when Usher was preferred 
to a bishoprick, and Travers grown old, and reduced to poverty 
and obscurity, the pious prelate used frequently to visit him, 
and would have most cheerfully supplied him with money; 
for which the good old man was grateful, but never would con- 
descend to accept. He continued provost of the above college 
several years; but on the commencement of the wars in Ireland? 



334< MEMOIR OF 

he was obliged to quit his station; at which period he returned 
to England, and spent the remainder of his days in silent ob- 
scurity. He was living in March 1624; but it does not appear 
how long he survived this period. He was eminent for learn- 
ing, a polished preacher, an orator of the first class, and one of 
the most celebrated divines of the age; but what availed all 
these excellencies, when weighed in the prelatical balance 
against the unpardonable and preponderating sin of non-con- 
formity. His name stands enrolled amongst the eminent men 
of Trinity college, Cambridge. 

His works are, A Justification of the Religion now professed 
in England. — An Answer to the Epistle of G. T. for the pre- 
tended Catholics. — De Disciplina Ecclesiastica ex Dei verbo 
Descripta, commonly called the Book of Discipline *. 



JOHN ROBINSON. 

This celebrated puritan was born in the year 1575, edu- 
cated at Cambridge, and beneficed near Yarmouth. In 1602, 
the intolerance of the prelates, in urging the ministers to sub- 
scribe to popish ceremonies, which had been retained in the 
established religion, and their severity in silencing such as had 
the integrity to reject these antichristian relics, together with 
the grievous oppressions exercised by their ecclesiastical courts, 
induced a number of the people, in those parts, to make a total 
separation from the ecclesiastic establishment, and to organize 
themselves under a system of church government, consonant to 
their own views of the New Testament rule, whatever might be 
the consequences. With this view, they covenanted with one 
another to walk with God, in the enjoyment of his ordinances, 
according to the primitive and apostolic pattern. Amongst the 
ministers who joined this association Mr Robinson was one, and 
at this time also became pastor to one of their churches. 

Having thus renounced the yoke of antichrist, and resolved 
to worship God, without submitting to the traditions of men, 
the spirit of intolerance was awakened against them with re- 
novated severity. Besides the trial of cruel mockings, spies 
were set over them, they were hunted out by officers, and often 

* This Book of Discipline was designed as a form of church government, and sub- 
scribed by Mr Travers, and a great part of the non-conformists. It was wrote in 
Latin, but translated into English, and printed at Cambridge; but the principal part 
of the impression was seized by the vice-chancellor. In the year 1644, when the 
book of common prayer was abolished by order of the parliament, this Book of Dis- 
cipline was republished, and appointed* to be observed in all ecclesiastical matters, 
with the new title, A Directory of Government, anciently contended for, and as far 
as the times avouM admit, practised by the first non-conformists in the days of queen 
Elizabeth, found in the study of that most accomplished divine, Thomas Cartwright, 
after his decease, and reserved for publication at such a time as this. 



JOHN ROBINSON. 335 

imprisoned, or forced to flee from their homes, and their means 
of subsistence. Under these cruel oppressions they groaned 
for seven sorrowful years, assembling together, as by stealth, in 
private houses, or wherever they could find an eligible situa- 
tion. Thus harassed, and almost ruined in the ecclesiastic 
courts, they at last resolved to seek an asylum in Holland, 
where they understood they might enjoy religious freedom. 
They had raised no disturbance in the state, but acted the part 
of industrious subjects, and peaceable members of the commu- 
nity; yet because they would not bow to the authority of men's 
inventions, in matters that concerned their duty to God only, 
they were loaded with heavy fines and forfeitures, and hunted 
like partridges on the mountains. 

Though Mr Robinson and his flock had resolved to sail for 
Holland, their enemies, being apprized of their design, watched 
them so close, that it was scarcely possible to elude their vigi- 
lance. Their case was every way deplorable, at home they 
were not permitted to live in peace, nor suffered to depart 
where they could find a quiet retreat. The following facts, ex- 
tracted from the original record belonging to the church of Ply- 
mouth, New England, will show the incredible sufferings to 
which they were subjected at this time. 

" A large company, intending to embark at Boston for Hol- 
land, hired a ship, and agreed with the master to take them on 
board on a certain day, and at an appointed place. They were 
punctual to the engagement; but the ship did not arrive at the 
time; but at last came and took them on board during the night. 
But having previously agreed with the searchers, the captain 
basely betrayed them, by delivering them and their effects into 
the hands of their persecutors, who instantly put them into 
boats, rifled and searched them even to their shirts, treating 
the females with rudeness and indelicacy. They were carried 
back to the town, where they were made spectacles of public 
scorn to the multitudes, who flocked from every quarter to see 
them. They were then carried before the magistrates, and 
thrown into prison, where they remained for a month, and 
some of them much longer; while some were bound over to the 
next assizes." 

In the following spring, however, Mr Robinson and his 
friends made a second attempt. They made their situation 
known to a Dutch captain, and agreed with him to carry them 
to Holland. He was to take them off from a large common be- 
tween Grunsby and Hull, a place remote from any town. The 
women, children, and goods, were sent to the place in a small 
bark, while the men travelled by land; but the bark arriving a 
day before the ship, the sea being rough, and the women and 



836 MEMOIR OF 

children very sick, the seamen put into a small creek. The 
next morning the ship arrived; hut the bark was a-ground, 
owing to the ebbing tide. That no time might be lost, the 
captain sent his boat, in which the greater part of the men 
embarked; but returning for the women and children, he 
spied a great company of horse and foot coming from the coun- 
try in arms, on which he weighed anchor with all haste, hoist- 
ed sail, and having the wind off shore, was soon out of sight. 
The men were thus separated from their wives and children, 
without a change of garments, and generally without their mo- 
ney, their goods being all left with the women. The con- 
sideration of the merciless treatment awaiting their helpless fa- 
milies, from the hands of their persecutors, absorbed every 
feeling for their own situation; tears flowed in abundance, but 
tears were all in vain. They were soon after overtaken with a 
terrible storm, and driven on the coast of Norway. For seven 
days they saw neither sun, moon, nor stars. The mariners 
themselves were at their wits end; and at one time they ima- 
gined the ship was going down, when, with death-boding 
shrieks, they cried out, we sink ! we sink ! The puritan passen- 
gers, amid this dreadful scene of hopeless horror, with much 
less distraction than might have been expected, were crying, Yet, 
Lord, thou canst save; thou art a present help in time of trou- 
ble; and other similar expressions. The ship at last recovered 
herself; and the storm abating, they reached their destination 
in safety. 

Mr Robinson, and some others, having prudently remained 
to see the women and children all safe on board, were left on 
shore; and owing to the unforeseen turn of affairs, had now a 
delicate and very difficult task put into their hands. Here was 
a scene of distress which neither tongue nor pen can adequately 
describe : A multitude of helpless women, bereft of their pro- 
tectors and comforters : Children, terrified at the rude voice of 
the unpitying persecutors, crying with fright, and shivering 
with cold : No home to shelter them, no father to cheer them, 
and nothing left to sustain the mother's breaking heart. Cha- 
rity would have relieved, humanity would have comforted the 
mourning mothers and their tender offspring; but, alas ! chari- 
ty, humanity, and every feeling of sensibility, were lost in the 
bigotry of superstition. The tools of prelatical oppression, to 
gratify the humour of their employers, hurried these harmless 
people from one place to another, and from one officer to ano- 
ther, till their triumph grew stale, and their severity disgusting, 
even to themselves. To have imprisoned so many innocent 
women and children, would have for ever blasted their fame 
for gallantry, branded them with the meanest cowardice, and 



JOHN ROBINSON. 337 

excited the public execration against them. Homes they had 
none, their unpitying oppressors were therefore glad to get rid 
of them; so that, by courage and perseverance, they wrought 
their way through every other difficulty, and at last arrived at 
Amsterdam, where they joined their friends, with hearts full of 
joy and gratitude to God. Upon their arrival in Amsterdam, 
which was in 1608, Mr Robinson's first concern was to arrange 
their church affairs. But Mr Smyth and his church having ar- 
rived some time before them, were now in a state of wrangling 
and contention, which they maintained with such warmth, that 
the gentle spirit of Mr Robinson induced him to withdraw 
from a scene of such animosity. Accordingly, having continu- 
ed at Amsterdam about one year, he removed, with his friends, 
to Leyden, where he enjoyed the blessings of religious liberty, 
and, with the permission of the magistracy, hired a meeting- 
house, where they worshipped God according to their own con- 
victions, none making them afraid. In this removal they act- 
ed on the most disinterested principles; for though they were 
certain that Leyden would afford them less employment and 
less profit, they preferred peace and christian liberty to every 
worldly consideration whatever. Here they engaged in such 
trades and employments as they could severally execute, and in 
a short time procured for themselves a comfortable subsistence; 
and having great comfort in the society of one another, and 
singular satisfaction in the ordinances of the gospel, under the 
painful ministry of Mr Robinson, they lived happily together, 
in peace, love, and holiness of life. 

Mr Robinson set out on the most rigid principles of Brown- 
ism; but having seen more of the world, and conversed with 
learned men, particularly with Dr. Ames, he became less rigid 
in his principles; and having struck out a middle path between 
the Brownists and presbyterians, he even admitted to occasional 
communion the members of the Dutch churches, and allowed 
his own people to join them in prayer, and the hearing of the 
word, though not in communion. He objected to the imposi- 
tion of the liturgy, the government by bishops, and the mixed 
communion of the church of England, and maintained, that 
every particular church, or society of christians, had complete 
power within itself, to choose its own officers, to administer all 
God's ordinances, to exercise all necessary discipline and autho- 
rity over its own members, and consequently that it is to all in- 
tents and purposes independent of all classes, synods, convo- 
cations, and councils, or other ecclesiastical authority, by what- 
ever other name it may be distinguished. " This we hold and 
affirm (says Mr Robinson), that two or three gathered together 
by a covenant, to walk in all the ways of God, constitute a 
13 2u 



338 MEMOIR OF 

church, and as such possess all the power of a church : That nei- 
ther the smallness of their numbers, nor the meanness of their 
persons, can prejudice their rights; so that two or three, thus 
united together, have the self-same powers and privileges as two 
or three thousand." Mr Robinson, nevertheless, admits, that 
these grave assemblies are expedient, and often serviceable in 
reconciling differences amongst churches, by giving them 
friendly advice; but denies them the power of exercising any 
act of authority whatever, unless by the consent of the churches 
whom the matters concern. These are some of the principles 
by which the independents of the present day are also distin- 
guished. 

After settling at Ley den, Mr Robinson's church greatly in- 
creased in number. Many families, from various parts of Eng- 
land, joined him; so that his congregation amounted to three 
hundred communicants; and it is a matter of doubt with many, 
whether any church, since the first ages of Christianity, has 
made a nearer approach to the apostolic pattern. The candour, 
simplicity, and integrity of its members, inspired their neighbours 
with confidence; and though many of them were poor, they 
could occasionally borrow from the Dutch, who readily took 
their word. They saw them industrious, and preferred them 
for customers; they found them honest, and chose them as 
workmen; and their general good character is honourably at- 
tested by the magistrates of Leyden, who, from the seat of jus- 
tice, on the eve of their departure from that city, say, " These 
English have lived amongst us now these ten years, during 
which we never had any suit against them, nor any of them." 

After having sojourned in a land of strangers for more than 
nine years, Mr Robinson and his people began to turn their at- 
tention to America, now that Providence seemed to have pro- 
vided an asylum for his persecuted people in that distant region. 
To this they were moved by various considerations. At Ley- 
den, though treated by the inhabitants with the greatest civility, 
and notwithstanding that they enjoyed religious instruction 
and fellowship, without the least annoyance, still these precious 
advantages depended entirely on the courtesy of strangers, 
they were unwilling therefore to hold them on so precarious a 
tenure. They were animated, moreover, with the cheering con- 
sideration, that they might become instrumental in carrying the 
joyful sound of gospel grace into the regions of pagan darkness, 
and be the means of salvation to many precious souls, ready to 
perish. Their removal was not therefore the effect of a fickle 
and unsteady disposition, but the result of cool deliberation : 
It was a fearless perseverance towards the attainment of these 
important purposes that swallowed up every minor considera- 



JOHN ROBINSON. 339 

tion. In their own country they could easily perceive, that re- 
formation, or even a toleration for dissenters from the national 
church, was not to be expected; so, after much deliberate con- 
sultation, and solemn prayer to God for direction, it was at last 
resolved, that part of the congregation, best qualified for the 
enterprise, should first transport themselves to America, where 
they might enjoy liberty of conscience, and where, after all their 
sufferings, sorrow, and wanderings, they might rest in tran- 
quillity under their own vine and fig-tree, and be the means of 
encouraging their suffering friends and countrymen to follow 
their example. 

In consequence of this resolution, agents were despatched to 
England, where, having obtained a patent from the crown, 
they agreed with several respectable merchants, and other 
friends, to take part in the enterprise. Several of Mr Robin- 
son's congregation sold their estates, and made a common bank, 
with which they purchased a small vessel of sixty tons burden, 
and hired another of one hundred and eighty tons. The agents 
sailed for Holland, with their own vessel, to take on board as 
many as were willing to embark; while the other was taking in 
the necessary stores for the plantation. All things at last be- 
ing in readiness for their departure, Mr Robinson, with his 
congregation, held a day of fasting and prayer; on which occa- 
sion he preached an excellent sermon from Ezra viii. 21. "I 
proclaimed a fast there at the river Ahava, that we might afflict 
ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, 
and for our little ones, and for all our substance;" which he 
concluded with the following appropriate christian exhortation : 
" Brethren, 

" We are now about to be separated from one another, and 
whether I shall ever again see your faces on earth, the God of 
heaven only knows. But whatever way the Lord has appoint- 
ed in this, I charge you, before God and his blessed angels, 
that you follow me no farther than you have seen me follow 
the Lord Jesus Christ. If God, by any other instrument of his, 
reveal any thing to you that you have not yet received, be as 
ready to receive it from others as ever you have been to receive 
any truth by my ministry : For I am verily persuaded, nay, I 
am confident, that the Lord will yet farther unlock the blessed 
treasures of his holy word, and exhibit more of his truth than 
the christian world have yet discovered. For my part, I can- 
not sufficiently lament the state of the reformed churches, who 
are come to a point in religion, and seemingly determined to 
stand still where the instruments of the reformation left them. 
The Lutherans are not to be moved a step farther than Luther 
himself had taught them; and whatever part of his will our 



340 MEMOIR OF 

good God had farther made known to Calvin, they will rather 
die than embrace it. The Calvinists, you see, stick fast at the 
very point where they were left by that great man of God, to 
whom, however, the Lord had not discovered all things. This 
is an evil truly lamentable; for though they were burning and 
shining lights in their day, they had not penetrated into the 
whole counsel of God; but would, were they now alive, as will- 
ingly embrace further light as they did that which they have 
declared to the world. I beseech you therefore to remember, 
that it is an article of your church covenant, that you receive 
whatever truth may be made known to you from the written 
word of God; remember this, and every other article of your 
sacred covenant. But I must herewith also exhort you, to take 
heed what you receive as truth, examine it, consider it impar- 
tially, and compare it with other parts of divine truth before 
you receive it; for it is impossible that the christian world, so 
lately emerging from the midnight gloom of antichristian dark- 
ness, can so soon lay claim to the knowledge of the whole 
truth. 

"I must also advise you, to abandon, avoid, and, by all 
means, shake off the name of Brownists. It is a mere nicname, 
a brand for making religion, and the professors thereof, odious 
to the christian world." 

On the 1st of July 1620, this small band of christian adven- 
turers, in all one hundred and one, removed from Leyden to 
Delft harbour, whither they were accompanied by Mr Robin- 
son and the elders of the church. They continued together all 
night; and next morning, after mutual embraces, Mr Robinson, 
kneeling down on the sandy beach, with fervent prayer, com- 
mitted them to the blessing and protection of heaven. Mr 
William Brewster, a man singularly well qualified for the un- 
dertaking, was chosen the leader of this new colony. After 
this painful separation, Mr Robinson wrote a paternal, a most 
faithful and affectionate letter to the adventurers, which they 
received at Southampton, where it was read to the whole com- 
pany, much to their comfort and encouragement. In address- 
ing them, he says, " I am present with you in my best affection, 
and earnest longings after you. God knows how willingly, 
and how much rather than remain behind, I would have borne 
my share in this first brunt, were I not detained by necessity. 
Account me, therefore, in the meantime, as a man painfully di- 
vided in himself, having my better half along with you. Though 
I doubt not your godly wisdom, I think it my duty to add a 
few words of advice, if not because you need it, yet because I 
owe it in love and duty." He then proceeds to give them the 
most affectionate and salutary instruction. He urges them to 



JOHN ROBINSON. 341 

repentance for all their known sins; and exhorts them to exer- 
cise a holy jealousy over themselves, to watch over their own 
hearts, to bear with one another in love, to avoid giving offen- 
ces, to manage all their affairs with discretion, and, by mutual 
agreement, to have a special regard to the public good, and 
avoid, as they would a destructive pestilence, all private re- 
spect for themselves as individuals; and to learn, that to secure 
the public prosperity, is the only sure method to promote the 
interest of the individuals that constitute that public. He fore- 
warns them of the danger attending a disrespectful carriage to- 
wards the magistrates they may choose to rule and watch over 
them and their best interests, but to pay them a cheerful and 
ready obedience. " I would not (says he) so far wrong your 
godly minds, as to think you heedless of other things which I 
could mention;" and concludes, by expressing his earnest de- 
sire for their happiness, invoking the Giver of all good things in 
their behalf. 

Mr Robinson intended following them with the remaining 
part of his congregation; but before he could accomplish his de- 
sign, it pleased God to remove him to another and a better 
world. He died March the 1st, 1625, and fiftieth year of his 
age. The life of this amiable individual, whether considered in 
his public or private capacity, exhibits a beautiful transcript of 
the numerous virtues that elevate and adorn the human charac- 
ter. He possessed a vigorous mind, cultivated by an excellent 
education. In his younger days he was noted for his good 
sense and solid learning; and as his mind expanded under the 
influence of divine grace, he procured that moderate and peace- 
ful temper, for which he was esteemed by christians of every 
persuasion. His rigid probity, and diffusive benevolence, 
powerfully recommended him to the Dutch people, both mini- 
sters and professors, with whom he lived in the greatest har- 
mony. They lamented him as a public loss ; and in testimony 
of their esteem and regard, their magistrates, ministers, pro- 
fessors, and many of the citizens, honoured his funeral proces- 
sion with their presence. 

Mr Robinson was an excellent disputant, as appears from his 
public disputation in the university at Leyden. At the time 
when the Arminian controversy distracted the churches in Hol- 
land, the famous Episcopius having given a public challenge, 
that he would defend his Arminian tenets against all opposers, 
the learned Polydore, and the chief ministers of the city, urged 
Mr Robinson to take a part in the dispute; but being a stran- 
ger, and naturally of a mild and quiet disposition, he refused. 
By their pressing solicitations, however, he was at last con- 
strained to engage in the discussion; in which he overwhelmed 



342 MEMOIR OF 

his antagonist, and nonplused him in three successive disputa- 
tions; by which he procured himself much honour and respect 
amongst men of piety and learning. 

Such was the reciprocal love and respect between Mr Robin- 
son and the members of his congregation, that it is difficult to 
judge whether he or they were most delighted with one another. 
His death was therefore a serious loss to the remaining branch 
of his church at Ley den. The most of them, however, in the 
course of a few years, joined their brethren in America, amongst 
whom were his widow and her children. His son Isaac lived 
to the great age of ninety years, and left a posterity in the 
county of Barnstaple. Mr Robinson's church at Leyden is said 
to have been the first independent church after the reform- 
ation. 

His works are, 1st, A Justification of separation from the 
Church of England against Bernard. — 2d, Remarks on Mr 
Smyth's Confession of Faith. — 3d, A Treatise on Communion. 
— 4th, The People's Plea for the Exercise of Prophecy. — 5th, 
Apologia Justa et Necessaria Christianorum ceque Contumeli- 
ose ac Community Dictorum Brownistarum ac Barrowistarum. 
This was translated in 1644. — 6th, An Appendix to Mr Per- 
kins' Six Principles of the Christian Religion. — It is supposed 
by some that he wrote books beside these. 



JOHN PRESTON, D. D. 

This famous divine, a descendant of the Preston s of Pres- 
ton, in Lancashire, was born at Heyford, in Northamptonshire, 
in 1587. He was educated first at king's, and after at queen's 
college, Cambridge. In this last situation he was a pupil of 
the pious and learned Mr Oliver Bowels, with whom he acquir- 
ed an astonishing proficiency in almost every branch of polite 
literature, especially in philosophy. But being naturally am- 
bitious, and indulging extravagant expectations of court prefer- 
ment, he accounted the study of divinity beneath the attention 
of a great mind. In 1609 he was chosen fellow of his college; 
and the Lord, who designed him to fill an important place in 
his church, was pleased to cool the fever of his raging ambition, 
by means of a sermon preached at St. Mary's church by Mr 
John Cotton. From this time forward he became remarkable 
for serious christian piety; and though he had heretofore de- 
spised the work of the ministry, he now directed all his studies 
towards that sacred office. 

When king James visited the university of Cambridge, Pres- 
ton, from his extraordinary learning and talents, was chosen 



JOHN PRESTON. 348 

for one to dispute before his majesty. The subject of dispute 
was, Whether brutes had reason, and to that degree that they 
could make syllogisms? Preston maintained the affirmative, 
and illustrated his argument by the case of a hound, who, 
when he comes to a place where three ways meet, first tries 
one, then another, and finding no scent, runs down the third 
with full cry; having drawn the inference, that as the hare had 
not gone in either the first or second way, she must necessarily 
have gone in the third. This argument is said to have had 
such a wonderful effect on the audience, particularly on the 
king, that it would have opened a door to his preferment, had 
not his puritanical opinions stood in the way. Sir Fluke Gra- 
ville, afterwards lord Brook, was so enamoured with his wit 
and other talents, that, in addition to other demonstrations of 
his esteem, he settled fifty pounds per annum upon him, and 
continued his friend for ever after. Having found the treasure 
hid in the gospel field, Preston wisely sacrificed all his tower- 
ing hopes, that he might make the invaluable purchase, even 
the present promising opportunity of obtaining the royal favour, 
he considered unworthy of his attention, tramelled, as it must 
have been, with submissions incompatible with his allegiance to 
the King of kings. Courtiers, and such men as aspired to 
places of honour and emolument, were astonished to see a young- 
man of such brilliant talents neglect to improve such a golden 
opportunity of rising in the world; while good men admired 
him for the same act of indifference, mortification, and self-de- 
nial; and their good opinion received additional strength from 
the following circumstance : 

The king, visiting the university a second time, Preston was 
requested that one of his pupils might support a female charac- 
ter in a comedy, for the entertainment of his majesty; but he 
politely refused, saying, "I do not like the motion; nor can I 
believe his friends intended him for a player. I beg therefore 
to be excused." This instance of his peculiar care for his pu- 
pils exceedingly raised his reputation as a prudent and conscien- 
tious teacher, so that he soon procured the fame of being the 
best tutor in the university; which induced many persons of 
distinguished eminence to commit their sons to his tuition, to 
whom he was particularly careful to communicate the know- 
ledge of sound religion, as well as good literature. Fuller calls 
him the greatest pupil-monger ever known in England, having 
had sixteen fellow-commoners admitted in queen's college in 
one year. He was, at the same time, so exceedingly intent on 
his studies, that he deprived himself of necessary rest and sleep. 
He used to lay his bed-clothes over him in such a manner, that 
they might drop off at an early hour, on purpose that the cold 



344 MEMOIR OF 

might awaken him; which practice had nearly ruined his con- 
stitution, though, hy the use of suitable means, his health was 
in a great measure restored. It is natural to expect that so 
great a man could not fail to be greatly popular. When he de- 
livered his catechetical lectures in the college chapel, the house 
was usually crowded with strangers before the fellows came; 
which awakened the malice of such as envied his popularity, 
who complained to the vice-chancellor, that it was not safe for 
the church that Preston should be thus adored, unless they in- 
tended to erect puritanism on its ruins. An order was there- 
fore forthwith issued from the consistory, that the scholars and 
townsmen should henceforth confine themselves to their own 
preachers, as they would not, in future, be allowed, on any pre- 
tence whatever, to attend on these lectures. At this time there 
was very little preaching throughout the university, the two 
lectures of Trinity church and St. Andrew's having been put 
down, and the lecturers silenced; which shows the impropriety 
and malice, but by no means the necessity? of this tyrannical 
measure. He was at length allowed the use of Botolph's 
church, belonging to queen's college; but here, as formerly, his 
uncommon popularity exposed him to the bitter resentment of 
his envious adversaries. Dr. Newcomb, commissary to the 
bishop of Ely, was exceedingly offended, on coming to the 
church, at the mighty crowd of people there assembled; on 
which occasion he forbade him to preach, commanding that 
evening prayers only should be read. The earl of Lincoln, and 
a number of other influencial men, nnd even the minister of the 
place, entreated the commissary, that he might be allowed, at 
least on the present occasion, to preach his sermon; but New- 
comb was inflexible, and went home in a rage, leaving them to 
have a sermon at their peril: so Mr Preston was advised to run 
the hazard, and deliver his sermon. Next morning Newcomb 
set off for Newmarket, where the court was then held, and 
lodged his complaint with bishop Andrews and others, asserting 
that Preston was a non-conformist at heart, and that if some 
severe measures were not adopted, he would soon also be one 
in practice. From his great popularity, he assured the bishop, 
that all order and conformity in the district would be destroyed, 
and prelatical authority trodden under foot; adding, that Preston 
was possessed of such cunning, that he must be roughly hand- 
led, otherwise all endeavours would prove ineffectual. 

At this time the king being in Newmarket, the whole affair 
was laid before him, who instantly gave orders for his prosecu- 
tion. Preston was therefore immediately cited before them, 
where he defended himself with great modesty and firmness. 
Bishop Andrews told him, that the king had been apprised, that 



JOHN PRESTON. 345 

he held all forms of prayer unlawful; and that, owing to his 
wonderful popularity, such opinions were likely to prove pub- 
licly mischievous to the peace of the church. Preston repelled 
the charge as a malicious slander, seeing he neither considered 
forms unlawful, nor had he, at any time, refused to use them. 
Upon which the bishop promised to be his friend, and have him 
released from the present prosecution. Many of the courtiers 
were well affected to Preston, but afraid to undertake his cause. 
Dr Young, dean of Winchester, had the boldness and hones- 
ty, however, to inform him, that bishop Andrews, under the 
mask of friendship, was hypocritically endeavouring to have 
him expelled from the university. All which appeared from his 
future behaviour; for Preston, after waiting on the bishop till 
almost ashamed, was ordered, on a certain Lord's day, to de- 
clare his sentiments on forms of prayer before the congregation, 
in St. Botolph's church, or undergo a farther prosecution. 
This circumstance being noised abroad, it was reported that he 
must preach a recantation sermon; which exceedingly gratified 
the malice of those who were hurt at his great reputation. To 
witness his anticipated disgrace, they crowded to church to hear 
him perform this humiliating service. But Preston preached, 
from the same text he had last used, a very close and searching 
sermon; and, in the conclusion, delivered his opinion on the set 
forms; so that all who went to laugh met with a mortifying 
disappointment. 

Preston having acquitted himself with honour, his friends 
rejoiced that he had been liberated, and permitted to preach. 
Soon after this he was appointed to preach before the king; 
which service he performed to the admiration of his august au- 
ditory. He was endowed with an uncommon fluency of speech, 
a commanding elocution, and a most tenacious memory, which 
enabled him to preach without notes. At the conclusion, his 
majesty expressed great satisfaction with the sermon, particu- 
larly with an observation respecting the Arminians; namely, 
that they put God into the same extremity in which Darius 
found himself involved, when he wished to save Daniel from the 
lions, and could not. The marquis of Hamilton earnestly rer 
commended to the king to appoint Preston to be one of his 
chaplains, saying, " This man is none of your pen and ink-horn 
preachers, but a man that is fully master of his subject, from 
whom something substantial may be expected." The king ac- 
knowledged all this; but said, it was too early. The real cause, 
however, was, that the king had not as yet forgotten the New- 
market affair. 

About this time Preston set out for the continent, where he 
visited several of the foreign universities, and acquired much 

13 2x 



34<6 MEMOIR Of 

literary improvement, by conversing with the most learned 
men in those parts where he had travelled. On his return, his 
popularity at court, as well as throughout the kingdom, became 
nearly universal; so that he was told he might be chaplain to 
almost whom he pleased. The duke of Buckingham, in the 
meantime, not knowing what friends he might stand in need of, 
persuaded the king to appoint him chaplain, in ordinary, to the 
prince of Wales. In the year 1622 he was chosen preacher at 
Lincoln's inn, London; and on the resignation of Dr. Chadder- 
ton, made master of Emanuel college, Cambridge; when he took 
his doctor's degree. The duke of Buckingham highly esteemed 
him; and being anxious to ingratiate himself with the puritans* 
who were becoming formidable in parliament, had hoped that 
by his means he might effect his purpose. Good men now be- 
gan to hope for more auspicious times, and were rejoiced to see 
that honest men were not all of them despised and rejected. 
The earl of Pembroke, and the countess of Bedford, taking much 
interest in his welfare, he was considered by all as a rising 
man, and respected as such. In 1624 he was invited to take 
the lecture at Trinity church, Cambridge; for which there was 
a strong contest between him and Mr Micklethwait, fellow of 
Sidney college, and likewise an excellent preacher. The eon- 
test, in voting, was so strongly supported on both sides, that 
the ulterior decision was referred to the king, who was strongly 
opposed to the doctor's preaching at Cambridge, and had a se- 
cret wish to separate him from his puritan friends, and secure 
him to the church. Accordingly, he was informed, that by 
giving up the lecture, he might have the bishoprick of Gloucester; 
which he refused. The duke, who was resolved not to lose him, 
took care that nothing should be done against his inclination; 
so when he could not be moved by any consideration of emolu- 
ment, power, or pre-eminence, the lecture was confirmed to him. 
This was his last preferment, and here he continued till the day 
of his death. Thus preferring a situation of eighty pounds a year, 
collected by six-penny subscriptions, with the prospect of being 
useful to the souls of perishing sinners, to the bishoprick of 
Gloucester, or any other preferment in the kingdom. 

About this time he was deeply engaged in controversy with 
some learned Arminians. He was called to take a leading part 
in two public disputations procured by the earl of Warwick, and 
held at York-house, in the presence of the duke of Bucking- 
ham, and a number of the nobility. The first of these contests 
was by bishop Buckridge and the dean of Carlisle on the 
part of the Arminians; and bishop Morton and Dr. Preston on 
the part of the Calvinists. In the conclusion, the earl of Pem- 
broke observed, that no person returned from this learned dis- 



JOHN PRESTON. 34>J 

<pute with Arminian sentiments, who had not brought them along 
with them. The second conflict was between Dr. White and 
Mr Montague on the one side; and bishop Morton and Dr. 
Preston on the other. On this occasion, the doctor is said to 
have displayed his powers of disputation, and matchless erudi- 
tion, to the astonishment of the auditory, as well as to the ho- 
nour and signal advantage of the cause he engaged to defend. 

By the great interest the doctor had with the duke of Buck- 
ingham and the prince of Wales, he was of essential service to 
many of the silenced ministers. He was in waiting when king 
James died, and came up with king Charles and the duke in a 
close coach. The duke offered Dr. Preston the broad seal; but 
he was too wise to accept of it. Finding, however, that he 
could neither obtain the confidence of the puritans, nor detach 
the doctor from their cause, the duke changed his measures, 
and bade adieu to his chaplain. The doctor, who saw the 
storm beginning to gather, quietly retired to his college, 
where it was feared he would feel the effects of the duke's 
future displeasure. But he had other work on hand, which 
engaged all his attention till the day of his death. He was assas- 
sinated by Felton, August 23d, 1628. 

Dr. Preston was originally of a strong constitution, which he 
Lad worn down by hard study and constant preaching. The 
question with him w r as not, How long have 1 lived, but what 
have I done ? Apprehending his sickness was unto death, he 
was desirous of breathing his last in his native country, and 
amongst his old friends. Accordingly, he removed to Preston, 
jiear Heyford; and after revising his will, and settling his 
worldly concerns, he committed himself to the gracious disposal 
of his heavenly Father. Observing the symptoms of death ap- 
proaching, he said, "The time of my departure is at hand; but 
I shall not change my company, for I shall still converse with 
God and saints." A few hours before his death, he said, " I 
feel death approaching my heart, let me go to my Father's 
house, and to Jesus Christ, who bought me with his blood. I 
have accompanied saints on earth, and shortly I shall be associ- 
ated with saints and angels in heaven, where my pains shall be 
changed to pleasure, and all my sorrowings into joy unspeak- 
able and full of glory." He died in the month of July 1628^ 
being only forty-one years of age. His remains were interred 
in Fausley church, and Dr. Dodd preached his funeral sermon 
to an immense crowd of people. Fuller, who has classed him 
with the learned writers of queen's college, Cambridge, says, 
■"He was all judgment and gravity, and a complete master of 
his passions, an excellent preacher, a celebrated disputant, and 
a perfect politician." Echard styles him the most celebrated of 



348 MEMOIR OF 

the puritans, an exquisite preacher, a subtile disputant, and a 
deep politician. 

His works are, 1st, The Saint's Portion. — 2d, The Breast- 
plate of Faith and Love. — 3d, Sermons before the King. — 4th, 
Eternal Life. — 5th, The Lifeless Life. — 6th, Mortification and 
Humiliation. — 7th, Spiritual Life and Death. — 8th, Judas' Re- 
pentance. — 9th, The Saints' Spiritual Strength. — 10th, The 
Saints' Qualifications and Remains. — 11th, Sermons. — 12th, 
The Golden Sceptre, with the Church's Marriage, and the 
Church's Carriage. — 13th, The Love of Christ. 



FRANCIS HIGGINSON, A. M. 

This famous preacher was born in 1587, educated in 
Emanuel college, Cambridge, and afterwards pastor of one of 
the churches of Leicester. His sermons were truly evangeli- 
cal; and the numbers that flocked from all quarters to hear him 
were astonishing. The great object of his ministry was to pro- 
duce a change of heart, and a correspondent rectitude of life 
and manners ; and, by the blessing of God on his faithful 
labours, a remarkable revival of religion was the desirable ef- 
fect. But in the midst of his usefulness he was silenced, and 
deprived for his non-conformity. He had been for some years, 
after his settlement at Leicester, a strict conformist, till becom- 
ing acquainted with Messrs Hildersham and Hooker, he was 
induced to consider the controversy about ceremonies. He 
searched the scriptures, and consulted the history of the early 
ages of the church; and the more his inquiries were extended, 
the more he was satisfied that the inventions of men had been 
most shamefully introduced into the service of God. After 
an impartial investigation of these things, he became a decided 
and conscientious non-conformist, and his influence burst 
forth so powerfully, that neither ecclesiastical opposition or in- 
sinuation could obscure the lustre of his talents, or diminish his 
unbounded popularity. The pathos, and enchanting eloquence 
of his discourses, were such, that the people would not be de- 
nied the pleasure and edification of his labours. He was to 
them as a lovely song of one who hath a pleasant voice. They 
exerted therefore all their influence and ingenuity for his re^ 
storation, and were, by some means or other, so far successful, 
that they obtained permission for him to preach a lecture on 
one part of the Sabbath, and on the other to assist an aged mi- 
nister who stood in need of a helper. In this situation he was 
supported by their own voluntary subscriptions; and such was 
the general respect for Mr Higginson, that, so long as it could 



FRANCIS H1GGINS0N. 34<9 

be safely done, all the conformist ministers of Leicester invited 
him to their pulpits. He likewise preached to another congre- 
gation in the church at Belgrave, a village in the vicinity. The 
indulgence thus extended to Mr Higginson was chiefly owing to 
the christian forbearance of the good bishop Williams of Lin- 
coln, who continued to connive at his non-conformity till Laud 
became bishop of London, and set out with a determination to 
extirpate non-conformity. 

But here, as elsewhere, while one part of the community re- 
joiced under his godly ministry, another part, finding their 
walk and deportment condemned by his preaching, became vio- 
lent opposers, and cruel persecutors. Mr Higginson avowed 
his opinion, that scandalous and profane persons ought not to 
be admitted to the Lord's table; and having preached a sermon 
from the text, " Give not that which is holy to dogs;" and be- 
ing about to administer the sacrament, he observed a man be- 
fore him notorious for the sins of drunkenness and profane 
swearing, whom he publicly addressed, telling him, that he could 
not admit him to that holy ordinance till he professed his repent- 
ance to the satisfaction of the brethren; and, in the meantime, 
desired him to withdraw. The man went out in such a fit of 
rage and horror, that he immediately took sick, and soon after 
expired, crying out, / am undone ! 

During Mr Higginson's residence at Leicester, a clergyman 
lived in the town, who was a doctor of divinity, a prebendary 
in a cathedral, and chaplain to his majesty; but seldom preach- 
ed, and when he did, was but thinly attended, owing to his 
poverty of sentiment and ostentatious affectation; while Mr 
Higginson's place of worship was continually crowded. This 
mightily displeased the doctor, who embraced every opportunity 
of expressing his resentment, and declared, that he certainly 
would drive him out of the town. This same doctor was ap- 
pointed by the sheriff to preach the assize sermon, and had three 
months notice to prepare himself. Through the whole of this 
time he never could make a sermon to please himself. About 
a fortnight before the time was expired, his friends pushed him 
on to another attempt, signifying, at the same time, that failing, 
he might still have recourse to Mr Higginson, who was always 
ready. To this last alternative the doctor was loath to submit, 
and studied night and day, but could not produce a scholar- 
like production; so that, on the very night before the assize, he 
got a friend to prevail on Mr Higginson to take his place; 
which he did, to the satisfaction of all who heard him. But the 
matter getting air, soon became a general topic of conversation; 
and the doctor, ashamed of himself, left the town, in place of 
driving out his assistant. Mr Higginson was afterwards chosen 



350 MEMOIR OF 

by the magistrates to be the town preacher. He thanked them 
for the kind offer; but seeing he could not conform, he declined 
the honour; but recommended Mr John Angel, then a conform- 
ist, but a good man ; whom they accepted. Several rich livings 
were offered him; which, for the same reason, he modestly re- 
fused. Mr Higginson was very useful in the education of 
young men, among whom were Dr. Seaman, Dr. Brian, and 
the famous Mr John How, all noted for learning, moderation, 
and non-conformity. But Laud was translated to London, 
and the whole face of ecclesiastic affairs was instantly changed. 
The non-conformists were no longer winked at, and Higginson 
was reported to the court of high commission as an incurable 
non-conformist, and in continual expectation of being dragged 
by pursuivants before that tyrannical bar, where perpetual im- 
prisonment was the least he could expect. A number of weal- 
thy men, merchants and others, about this time, obtained a 
charter from Charles I. and were incorporated under the title 
of " The Governor and Company of Massachusetts' Bay in New 
England." This company had come to the resolution of send- 
ing out some ships with settlers and stores to begin the planta- 
tion; and learning the dangerous situation in which Mr Hig- 
ginson's conscientious non-conformity had placed him, they 
sent two messengers to invite him to join their company, pro- 
mising to support him on the passage. The messengers, aware 
that the family were hourly expecting pursuivants from Lon- 
don to carry him before the court of high commission, resolved 
to have a little amusement; in order to which, they assumed 
the rough deportment of the pursuivants, approached boldly, 
and knocking loud, demanded a word with Mr Higginson. 
We must speak with Mr Higginson, said they. Mrs Higgin- 
son was much alarmed, and advised her husband to conceal 
himself. " No (says he), I shall go down and speak with them, 
and the will of the Lord be done." As they entered the hall, 
with an affected roughness of address, they presented him with 
some papers, saying, " We are come from London, Sir, and our 
business is to bring you up with us, as you will see by the con- 
tents of these papers." I thought so, said Mrs Higginson, and 
began to weep. On opening the papers, Mr Higginson was 
agreeably disappointed on finding himself invited to Massachu- 
setts by the governor and company of that intended colony; 
and Mrs Higginson's joy was inexpressible. He welcomed his 
guests; they were seated, and had a free conversation with him 
about the nature of the concern ; and after taking proper time 
to ascertain the path of duty, he resolved to cross the Atlantic. 
His farewell sermon was preached from Luke xxi. 20, 21. 
li When you see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, &c flee 



FRANCIS HIGGINSON. S51 

to the mountains." In the course of which, he declared, be- 
fore a vast assembly, that he was persuaded England would be 
chastised with war, of which Leicester should have more than 
a proportionate share # . He expressed his thankful acknow- 
ledgments to the magistrates, and others, for the favourable en- 
couragement they had afforded him. He told them that he 
was going to New England, which, he believed, God intended 
for an asylum to persecuted non-conformists. This happened 
in the year 1629. Mr Higginson, on taking his journey, with 
his family, for London, in order to embark, found, as he passed 
along, that the streets of Leicester were crowded with the peo- 
ple, who took their last farewell with prayers and tears. 

They sailed from the Isle of Wight in the beginning of May 
1629, and landed at Salem the 24th June following. The ships 
were filled with religious passengers, amongst whom were Mr 
Samuel Skelton and Mr Ralph Smyth, both non-conformist 
ministers. Mr Higginson kept a journal of the voyage; a copy 
of which is still preserved. 

They were no sooner arrived at the colony, than they set 
about the important business for which they had braved the 
dangers of the ocean, and commenced their new settlement by 
calling upon the name of the Lord. After consulting the 
brethren at Plymouth, who sent some of their people to aid and 
instruct them witli regard to the nature of the country, &c, 
they fixed on the 6th of August as a day of fasting and prayer, 
and for settling the order of their intended church. On this 
highly interesting occasion, Mr Higginson drew up a confession 
of faith, and a covenant; a copy of which was given to each 
person becoming a member; the number of whom, at first, were 
only thirty, to which confession and covenant each of these did 
solemnly and severally declare their consent. Mr Higginson 
was chosen teacher, Mr Skelton pastor of the church, and Mr 
Houghton ruling-elder. After this, many others joined the 
church; but none were admitted without giving some satisfac- 
tory evidence of their conversion to God. Thus was the first 
christian church formed in the Massachusetts' colony. 

Some of the passengers, who went out with these settlers, 
were much chagrined on observing that the book of common 
prayer was laid aside; that the sacraments were administered 
without the ceremonies, and that scandalous and profane mem- 
bers were to be rejected, and discipline exercised against them. 
On this account they began to raise disturbance, and set up a 

* A few years after this, the civil war, between the king and parliament, raged 
with uncommon violence; and Leicester being strongly fortified, the wealth of the 
country adjacent was deposited in the fortress as a place of security; but the town 
was besieged, taken by storm, given up to plunder, and more than one thousand of 
its inhabitants killed on the streets. 



359 MEMOIR OF 

separate assembly according to the English church. The prin- 
cipal promoters of this breach were Mr Samuel Brown and his 
brother, the one a lawyer, and the other a merchant. The 
governor, observing this disturbance, sent for these two men, 
who accused the ministers for breaking through the orders of 
the church of England; adding, that they were schismatics, and 
ere long would turn out anabaptists; but with regard to them- 
selves, they were determined to adhere to the church of Eng- 
land. To these accusations the ministers replied, " That they 
were no schismatics, neither were they anabaptists : That they 
had not separated from the church of England, but from the 
corruptions of that church, amongst which they considered the 
common prayer and the ceremonies, to which therefore they 
could not conform with a good conscience; but had suffered in- 
credible hardships, and unmerited persecution. But now, that 
by the good providence of God they had found a place of re- 
fuge, where they might act according to the dictates of their 
own consciences, they neither could, nor would they defile 
themselves with these relics of antichristian superstition." The 
governor, the council, and people in general, approved this an- 
swer. The two brothers, however, were far from being satisfi- 
ed; and attempting to raise a mutiny in thejcolony, they were 
sent home in the same vessel that had brought them out. 

But the faith and patience of these religious adventurers 
were soon exercised with other trials besides these. Their first 
winter proved very calamitous. The mortality amongst them 
was such, that it carried off almost one hundred of their com- 
pany, among whom was Mr Houghton, the elder of the church; 
and Mr Higginson not being able to undergo the fatigues of a 
new settlement, was seized with a hectic fever, under which he 
languished till August following. The last sermon he preached 
was to several hundreds of people just landed from England, 
from Matt. xi. 7. " What went you out to the wilderness to 
see;" whom he reminded, that their design in transporting them- 
selves was to promote true religion, undefiled with the super- 
stitions of Rome, to spread the same amongst their pagan 
neighbours, and transmit it to their posterity, and thus lend 
their feeble efforts to perpetuate the kingdom and glory of the 
Redeemer. He pressed upon them the duty of christian for- 
bearance, and cautioned them against all manner of intolerance 
and persecution, from the recollection of their own former suf- 
ferings. "You exult (said he), and justly, in having got be- 
yond the prelatical jurisdiction, and seeing other christians may 
land amongst you, who hold, on some points, opinions different 
from yours, do to them as you were desirous the bishops of 
England should have done to you. Let them alone, to their own 



FRANCIS HIGGINSON. 353 

Master they are only accountable. This is the path of peace; 
you will also find it the path of prosperity. Soon after this he 
was confined to his bed, and frequently visited, till his dying 
day, by the principal men of the colony. He was deeply hum- 
bled under a sense of his own un worthiness, and when his friends 
endeavoured to comfort him, by reminding him of his useful- 
ness and fidelity in the cause of Christ — "Alas ! (he replied) I 
have been an unprofitable servant ; all my doings I count but 
loss and dung, my great desire is to win Christ, and be found 
in him, not having my own righteousness." He died in the 
month of August 1630, aged forty-three years. His funeral 
was attended with all the solemnity the colony could possibly 
display. 

He was a man richly furnished with all Christian graces ; a 
celebrated linguist, and one of the first preachers of his time. 
His delivery was so charming, that he captivated the hearts of 
the people; and his memory was dear even to posterity. He 
had two sons, Francis and John, who afterwards became minis- 
ters : Francis at Kirkby Stephen in Westmoreland, England ; 
John was chosen pastor to his father's church in 1659, and was 
still labouring there in 1696, in the eightieth year of his age, 
and sixtieth of his ministry ; and Mr Higginson's posterity still 
remain in New England, and are amongst the most respectable 
citizens of the Union. 



ROBERT BOLTON, D. D. 

This pious and diligent labourer in his Master's vineyard 
was born at Blackburn, in Lancashire, in 1572, and educa- 
ted at Brazen-nose college, Oxford, where he was chosen fel- 
low. He made an uncommonly rapid progress in philosophy, lo- 
gic, and the learned languages. His means of support being 
extremely limited, he borrowed books of his tutor and others, 
and besides reading them with peculiar attention, he transcrib- 
ed the substance of them into his common-place-book. With 
the view of acquiring a more distinct knowledge of the Greek 
language, he transcribed the whole of Homer with great care, 
and in a very fair character. He was famed for his lectures on 
natural and moral philosophy. He was likewise deeply learned 
in metaphysics, mathematics, and school divinity ; and having 
most brilliantly displayed his learning and talents in the public 
disputations in the schools, he was chosen by the vice-chancel- 
lor to be one of the disputants before king James, when he first 
visited the university. But notwithstanding all these useful 
and ornamental accomplishments, he was still destitute of the 
13 2y 



351 MEMOIR OF 

one thing needful ; lie had as yet no serious concern for his 
soul, he was even destitute, in a great measure, of moral pro- 
priety ; lie greatly delighted in plays and cards; he was, more- 
over, a horrible swearer and Sabbath breaker, who despised the 
counsel and company of the wise and serious, and associated with 
the wicked and profane; particularly he could not endure those 
men stigmatized with the appellation of puritans. His views, 
however, were afterwards quite changed. During his residence 
at Oxford he fell in with one Anderton, formerly his school-fel- 
lowi but now a learned popish priest, who, taking advantage of 
his mean circumstances, persuaded him into a reconciliation 
with the Romish church, and to accompany him to one of the 
seminaries in Flanders, where, he told him, he should have gold 
in ahundance. The time and place of emharkation were ac- 
cordingly appointed ; but Anderton failing in his promise, Bolton 
renounced the object in view, and returned to his college. 
Here, by the pious instructions of Mr Thomas Peacock, he was 
brought to a deep sense of his sin, which, for many months, de- 
prived him of all peace of mind; his appetite failed him, and 
sleep, in a great measure, had departed from his eyes; but the 
grace of God at last restored him to peace and joy in the Holy 
Ghost. This memorable change took place in the thirty-fifth 
year of his age; upon which he resolved to enter on the work of 
the ministry. Having, for the space of about two years, preach- 
ed at various places, Sir Augustine Nicols, a justice of the com- 
mon pleas, a learned man, an impartial judge, aird a sincere 
christian, presented him to the rectory of Broughton in North- 
amptonshire, at which place he continued till his death. Upon 
his presentation to Broughton, which took place in 1609, bi- 
shop King thanked the worthy judge; hut observed, that he had 
deprived the university of Oxford of one of its brightest orna- 
ments. 

Mr Bolton being endowed with a commanding and energetic 
eloquence, he was a most awakening preacher. He delivered 
two sermons every Lord's day, and catechised the youth of his 
congregation. On every holiday, and every Friday before the 
sacrament, he expounded a portion of scripture; and in his do- 
mestic and secret devotions, he invariably prayed six times 
every day; twice with his family, twice with his wife, and twice 
in secret. He was of a comely person, with a graA 7 e and com- 
manding exterior, ever zealous in the cause of Christ, yet pru- 
dent to avoid being called in question concerning those things 
in which he could not conform to the national requisitions in 
religious matters. In his last sickness, which was a quartan 
ague, observing that his complaint was daily gaining ground, 
Mr Bolton revised his will, and retired from the bustling de- 



ROBERT BOLTON. 355 

partments of life, and employed the residue of his days in meditat- 
ing on the joys of heaven. His sickness was tedious and pain- 
ful; yet he bore up under his sufferings with admirable patience, 
often exclaiming, during the intervals of his fits, " Oh ! when 
shall the happy hour arrive when I shall be dissolved ? When 
shall I be with Christ, and see him as he is ?" Some of his 
friends observing, that though better for himself, his dissolu- 
tion would be a heavy loss to the church, in depriving them of 
the benefit of his ministry; to which he replied, " If my Lord 
and Redeemer has further work for me in his church on earth, 
he will restore me again, and show me his holy habitation: if 
otherwise, lo ! here am I, let him do what seemeth him good." 
Being asked by one, Whether he should not be content to live 
if it were the will of God? He readily replied, « I grant that 
life is the great blessing of God, neither will I neglect any 
means to preserve it; but though I heartily desire to be submis- 
sive to the will of God, of the two alternatives, I infinitely pre- 
fer being absent from the body, that I may be present with the 
Lord." During the progress of his complaint, though his body 
was wasted, his mind was lively and vigorous as ever. The 
ministers who visited him he exhorted and encouraged to be 
strong in the Lord, and in the confidence of his power and 
goodness, not to let their spirits sink under the apprehensions 
of any danger or difficulty that might stand in the way, but to 
be diligent and faithful in the work whereunto they had been 
called, and leave the result to him who does all things well. 
All his visitors he warmly exhorted to improve the acceptable 
time and day of salvation, and not put off the most important 
business of their lives till the days of sickness and of death 
should come upon them, expressing, in the language of joy and 
praise, his gratitude to God, who had plucked him as a brand 
from the fire, and had, in his wonderful mercy and condescen- 
sion, blessed his ministry to the conversion of many souls to 
himself. About a week before his departure, he admonished 
his wife not to be troubled at his dissolution, but to bear it with 
christian fortitude, assuring her they should meet again in hea- 
ven. Then turning towards his weeping children, he said, 
" My dear children, you must not now expect me to say any 
thing more to you, seeing my strength is quite gone. I have 
told you enough in time past, which, I trust, you will remem- 
ber, and reduce to practice when I am gone." In the course 
of his ministry he had dwelt on the consolations of the gospel; 
and his people, in their turn, were anxious to know how he felt 
them in his own soul. " Alas ! (said Mr Bolton) do they ex- 
pect that of me now, when I have neither breath nor strength to 
speak. I have said a great deal on that subject in my ministry; 



356 MEMOIR OF 

but, for their satisfaction, tell them, that I am, by the wonder- 
ful mercy of God, as full of comfort as my soul can contain, 
and feel nothing within me but Christ, with whom I earnestly 
desire to be." And looking on those who were weeping near 
him, he said, " Oh ! how much ado there is before one can 
die." 

A little before his departure, being told that some of his best 
friends were about to take their last farewell, he caused himself 
to be raised up on the bed; and after struggling for breath, he 
said, " I am now drawing on apace to my dissolution, hold out 
faith and patience, your work is nearly over." Then, shaking 
them all by the hand, he said, " Make sure of heaven; keep in 
mind what I have formerly delivered to you. The doctrines I 
have preached amongst you these twenty years is the truth of 
God, as I shall answer at the tribunal of Christ, before whom 
I am on the point of appearing." This he spoke while the very 
pangs of death were upon him. A dear friend, taking him by 
the hand, asked if he felt much pain. " Truly no (said he), not 
so much as I feel from the coldness of your hand;" and instant- 
ly expired, December 16th, 1631, aged fifty-nine years. 

Mr Nicholas Estwick, who preached his funeral sermon, 
says, " That the Lord had enriched him with a great measure 
of grace, and that his life was a copy of the doctrines he taught : 
That he was sober, righteous, and godly, and, in every respect, 
irreproveable in all the various relations, of a minister, a father, 
a husband, a brother, or as a member of the community : That 
he was a hard student and faithful labourer in the work of the 
gospel. A great man, says he, has fallen in our Israel, whose 
loss will be severely felt, and long lamented. His wife has lost 
a gracious husband; his children, a loving father and gracious 
guardian; ministers, a grave and learned brother; the poor, a 
liberal benefactor, a wise instructor, and a gracious friend; and 
the whole land will feel the loss of a zealous wrestler with God 
for the continuation and promotion of their happiness." 

The Oxford historian styles him a most religious and learned 
puritan, a painful preacher, and full of good works. He was 
so expert in the Greek language, that he could dispute or write 
in it with the same ease as in Latin or English. Fuller says, he 
was one of a thousand for piety, wisdom, and stedfastness; 
while Echard denominates him a great and shining light of the 
puritan party, justly celebrated for his singular learning and 
piety. His eloquent and invaluable writings will be read with 
pleasure and advantage, and perpetuate his memory so long as 
the English language is understood. His style is lofty, in some 
instances rather approaching the bombast; but, generally speak- 
ing, his expressions are magnificent, and often sublime. The 



ROBERT BOLTON. 3.57 

beauties of imagination are, however, most apparent in his Four 
Last Things. There never had been a minister in the county of 
Northampton who either lived more beloved, or died more la- 
mented than Mr Bolton. His remains were interred in the 
chancel of B rough ton church, and a flood of tears shed over his 
grave, where his half length figure is erected, with his hands 
raised in the attitude of prayer, and underneath a monumental 
inscription upon black marble. 



NATHANIEL BERNARD, A. M. 

This courageous and much persecuted puritan divine was 
educated at Emanuel college, Cambridge; after which he was 
lecturer at St. Sepulchre's, London, where he was subjected to 
peculiar sufferings under the prelatical tyranny of bishop Laud. 
In preaching at St. Atholin's church, May 3d, 1629, having 
used the following expression in his prayer before sermon : 
" Oh ! open the eyes of the queen's majesty, that she may see 
Jesus Christ whom she hath pierced with her infidelity, super- 
stition, and idolatry;" for which expression he was summoned 
by Laud to appear before the high commission at Lambeth, 
where, after long attendance, and having made his humble sub- 
mission, he was dismissed; which, however, was considered an 
act of great mercy and moderation in that imperious court. 
Again, in the month of May 1632, in a sermon, preached at St. 
Mary's church, Cambridge, he spoke in favour of maintaining 
purity in the worship of God, and deprecated the introduction 
of Arminianism and popish superstitions into the church of 
Christ. Here again the active Laud had him cited before the 
commission. On Mr Bernard's appearance, he was constrain- 
ed to produce, before the court, a copy of his sermon, who ob- 
jected to the following passages : " God's ordinances, for his 
public worship, are the glory of any nation. By God's ordi- 
nances here, said Mr Bernard, I understand chiefly the word, 
sacraments, and prayer, which, when blended with any adulter- 
ous innovations, cease to be the ordinances of Christ, or recog- 
nized by him. It is not the nominal possession of the ordinan- 
ces of Christ, but their possession in purity and reality, that 
constitutes the glory of a nation. The possession of the ordi- 
nances of God, in their purity, are a shield and buckler, and a 
rock of defence against public ruin and desolation. For the 
proof of this, I challenge all records, ancient or modern, human 
or divine, to produce one instance wherein God has punished 
any part of his church with national ruin till they had first de- 
parted from, or corrupted his ordinances. And if so, how 



358 MEMOIR OF 

foolish must it be for some men to think so meanly of the ordi- 
nances of their omnipotent Lord and lawgiver, who has an- 
nounced himself also as the universal judge. Such men turn 
their own, and the glory of their nation and church into infamy 
and disgrace; and yet there is amongst us a generation of pro^ 
fane men, who seem to despise these holy ordinances. Men 
who are afraid or ashamed to preach twice on a Lord's day; 
ashamed to preach plainly, powerfully, or spiritually, lest, for- 
sooth, they should be branded with the name of puritans." 
But Laud's principal objection was to the following conclusion 
of Mr Bernard's sermon : " It is impossible, I say impossible, 
for any, who live in the faith and practice of the popish church, 
and die without repentance, to be saved, as the late Tridentine 
Council have decreed. My reason is, that whoever imagines he 
may enter heaven by any other gate than by faith in the merit 
of Christ only, must, and will assuredly be disappointed; and 
that the popish devotee, who rests his salvation on the merit of 
alms, pilgrimages, and penances, will find he has trusted to a 
broken reed. Furthermore, if God's ordinances of public worship, 
in their divine purity, be the glory of a nation ; then it follows, as a 
necessary consequence, that whoever goes about either to rob a na- 
tion of these ordinances, or defile them by mixtures of human 
invention, do what they can to render the nation base and inglori- 
ous, and, by so doing, to expose it to the displeasure of God, 
and consequently either to his Fatherly chastisement, or to that 
sweeping destruction, ruin, and desolation, which he has threat- 
ened, and which he has invariably executed upon these nations 
who despise, reject, or corrupt his divine institutions. In 
what light then are we to consider these corrupters ? As pa- 
triots or friends to their native country? No, surely, but as 
enemies of God, and traitors to the community in which they 
live. Hereby we may learn how to account of those amongst 
ourselves (if any such there be), who endeavour to quench the 
light, and diminish the glory of our Israel, by intermingling 
their pelagian errors with the doctrines of our church esta- 
blished by law, and their antichristian superstitions with our 
christian worship. Such as high altars, crucifixes, bowing 
down to them and worshipping them, whereby they shamefully 
symbolize with the church of Rome, to the irrepairable ship- 
wreck of many precious souls. How can we think such men 
are not the enemies of this church and nation ? I say, enemies 
they are, and as such let us take up arms against them. But 
what arms ? The prayers of the church are the arms of the 
church; let us therefore pray these men either to conversion, if 
it be the will of God, or to destruction; and let us use that 
prayer against them that David used against Ahitophel, with 



NATHANIEL BERNARD. 359 

which I shall couelude. O Lord, turn the counsel of all these 
Ahitophels into folly, who labour to lay the honour and glory 
of this church and nation in the dust, by depriving us of the 
purity of thine ordinances of public worship, which are the bul- 
warks of our security, and the glory of our national strength." 
For these expressions in his sermon, Mr Bernard was sen- 
tenced, by the high commission, to be suspended, excommuni- 
caced, fined one thousand pounds, condemned in costs of suit, 
and committed to new prison; where, for six months, he was 
most barbarously used, and nearly starved. It was in vain 
that he remonstrated with the bishop in several letters. This 
honest, but injured individual, could obtain no redress unless he 
would defile his conscience with a public and most debasing re- 
cantation, which he was commanded to make before the same 
congregation to whom he delivered the objectionable sermon. 
This he absolutely refused. He would not sacrifice the testi- 
mony of a good conscience, deny the most glaring matters of 
fact, and reject the counsel of God against himself, whatever 
might be the consequences. In his letters to Land, though he 
expressed his sorrow for any unbecoming expressions in his 
sermon, he was told he had no favour to expect, nothing would 
appease the wrath of the angry prelate but a recantation agree- 
able to the contemptible form prescribed; which must for ever 
have degraded the man beneath the basest of the brute creation. 
He was therefore detained in prison, where, after languishing 
a long time, he died, and, by his death, has consigned the me- 
mory of this prelatical monster to an immortality of exe- 
cration. 



LAURENCE CHADDERTON, D. D. 

Mr Chaddertox was born in Lancashire, 1587, a de- 
scendant of a very wealthy family. He was brought up in the 
popish religion; and his father, intending him for the law, sent 
him to the inns of court; but he soon renounced the religion of 
his father, became a protestant, forsook the study of the law, 
and entered at Christ-college, Cambridge, 1564. Having thus 
changed his religion, and fixed himself in the university, he ac- 
quainted his father with these circumstances, and requested some 
pecuniary support. But his father, indignant at his religious 
choice, not only refused him any support, but also disinherited 
him of considerable estates; and, as a farther demonstration 
of the strength of his resentment, sent him a pock, with a groat 
in it, that he might go a-begging. Though thus unfeelingly 
abandoned by his parents, he was much comforted by these words 



360 MEMOIR OF 

of the Psalmist, " When my father and mother forsake me, then 
will the Lord take me up." Young Chadderton, though cast 
off hy his unnatural parents, still continued at the university, 
with the most inflexible adherence to his studies, and became 
so eminent a scholar, that, in three years, he was chosen fellow 
of his college. In 1576 he had a public dispute with Dr. Baro, 
the Margaret professor, upon his Arminian tenets; on which oc- 
casion he displayed great learning, piety, and moderation. lie 
afterwards took an active part in the proceedings of the university 
against Baro and Baret, and united with others in addressing 
certain letters to the chancellor of the university. For the 
space of sixteen years he continued lecturer to one of the 
churches in Cambridge, in which his holy, learned, and judici- 
ous sermons became a blessing to the place. October 26th, 
1578, he preached the sermon at Paul's cross; which, it appears, 
was the only article he ever published. About this time he was 
appointed, by parliament, to be preacher at the middle Temple, 
and have a salary of twenty pounds a year, to be raised by the 
contributions of the house. In 1584, when Sir Walter Mild- 
may founded Emanuel college, he made choice of Mr Chadder- 
ton to be the first master. But his modesty made him reluc- 
tant in undertaking the charge. Sir Walter, however, told 
him, that unless he would acquiesce with his wishes, he would 
not proceed. If you will not condescend to be master, said he, 
I will not be the founder; on which he complied, and continued 
in the office thirty-eight years. Amongst many distinguished 
characters, who had been Chadderton's pupils, William Bedell, 
afterwards bishop of Kilmore in Ireland, was one. This learn- 
ed prelate always paid the highest respect for his venerable tu- 
tor. After Bedell was made provost of Dublin college, and in- 
troduced to a friendly correspondence with the celebrated 
Usher, he could not make mention of his name without sensa- 
tions of pleasure and esteem. " The arts of dutiful obedience, 
and also of just ruling, in part (says he), I did, for seventeen 
years, endeavour to learn under the good father Chadderton, in 
a well tempered society. Of the cunning tricks of packing, sid- 
ing, bandying^ and skirmishing with and between great men, I 
confess myself ignorant, and now I am too old to be taught." 

In 1622 the doctor resigned his mastership to the famous 
Dr. Preston, lest his successor should be a man of Arminian 
principles. He lived, however, to see Dr. Sancroft, and after 
him Dr. Howldsworth, in the same office. Dr. Chadderton 
was a decided puritan, though a man of great moderation. He 
joined the classical associations, and subscribed the book of dis- 
cipline. In 1603 he was nominated by king James to attend 
the conference at Hampton court; and, on account of his great 



LAURENCE CHADDERTON. S6l 

learning, he was also nominated by his majesty for one of the 
translators of the present version of the Bible. He died Nov. 
13th, 1640, in the hundred and third year of his age. His re- 
mains were interred in St. Andrew's church, Cambridge, when 
Dr. Howldsworth preached his funeral sermon, in which he 
gives him a very large and deserved commendation. 



HENRY BURTON, D. B. 

This very extraordinary sufferer, in the cause of non-con- 
formity, was born at Birdsall in Yorkshire, 1579, and educated 
at Cambridge. His first employment, after leaving the univer- 
sity, was that of tutor to the sons of lord Carey, at Leppington. 
He was afterwards clerk of the closet to prince Henry; and 
after his death, to prince Charles, whom he was appointed to 
accompany in his visit to the court of Spain; but, for reasons 
unknown, he was set aside, even after some of his travelling 
equipage had been put on board for the voyage. On the acces- 
sion of Charles to the throne, Burton expected to have been 
continued in his office. Here, however, he was disappointed, 
and his place bestowed on Neile, bishop of Durham. Burton 
was highly offended at being thus supplanted; and, in April 
1623, presented a letter to kiug Charles, remonstrating against 
Neile and Laud, his majesty's constant attendants, as being 
strongly inclined to popery; which was certainly lamentably 
true. Nevertheless, Burton's remonstrance was considered as 
the malevolent effects of disappointed hopes by his enemies; while 
he, on the other hand, charges the bishop with supplanting him 
by hypocrisy and envy. "But (says he) it was thus happily or- 
dered by the good providence of God, who would not suffer me 
to rise at court, lest I should have been corrupted by its prefer- 
ments." Mr Burton, being a man who feared no antagonist, 
when cited before Laud, treated him more like a school-boy 
than a learned bishop. He was convened before the high com- 
mission for his book, entitled, Babel no Bethel. Harsnet, 
archbishop of York, railed himself out of breath against it and 
its author. But Burton confounded him with the sharpness of 
his reply. Becoming more and more disgusted with the in- 
creasing usurpations, and tyrannical government of the prelates, 
and their attempts to restore the antichristian superstitions of 
Rome, he purposely preached, from the second chapter of the 
Epistle to the Colossians, and fearlessly attacked the ceremonies 
of the church, denouncing all will- worship, and every species of 
human invention in the service of God. " I began (says he) to 
fall off from the ceremonies by degrees, watching for an oppor- 
13 2 z 



36 c 2 MEMOIR Of 

tunity to try it out, either by dint of argument, or by law; and? 
in case of failing in these, I had resolved to appeal to the king 
and his council, determined either to foil my adversaries, though 
I had but small hopes of this, or at least to discover the mys- 
tery of iniquity and hypocrisy, which, like a veil of piety, they 
had hung over their tyrannical proceedings. I saw, with sor- 
row, how they were daily gaining ground on the hearts of the 
credulous and simple, by their subtile pretensions that all their 
measures were for the protection of the protestant religion, 
while they were labouring to undermine and overturn it, and 
while the withered whore of Babylon, who at first made her 
appearance in a protestant garb, began to show her painted face 
in all the superstitious services of the altar. Not satisfied 
with the mere introduction of popery, their endeavours were 
also directed to the overthrow of the good laws and liberties of 
the nation, and the introduction of arbitrary and despotic govern- 
ment." How truly Mr Burton has characterised the leading 
ecclesiastics of that period, the History of England will suffi- 
ciently attest. 

But Mr Burton, in proportion to the boldness and truth of 
his strictures on the measures adopted by the prelates, felt the 
weight of their implacable resentment, but especially that of 
bishop Laud. In 1826 he was convened before the high com- 
mission; but, on this occasion, the judges interposed, and grant- 
ed a prohibition; in consequence of which, he, for this time, 
escaped from the fangs of these devouring beasts of prey. 
Having published a book, entitled, The Baiting of the Pope's 
Bull, or the Unmasking of the Mystery of Iniquity, folded up 
in a most pernicious Bull, lately arrived from Rome, with the 
design of causing a rent in England, by which his holiness 
might re-enter. Notwithstanding that this book was wholly 
directed against the pope, and licensed by Dr. Goad, Mr Bur- 
ton, the author, was cited before the council, by the instigation 
of Laud, who spoke with vehemence against it, and denounced 
it a libel. After this Burton published another book, entitled. 
The Pouring out of the Seven Vials; for which this bloody pre- 
late had him prosecuted in the high commission, and had the 
book suppressed; and when he published his book, entitled, Ba- 
bel no Bethel, which was also wholly directed against the 
church of Rome, bishop Laud ordered his pursuivant to appre- 
hend and commit him to the Fleet; where, contrary to the peti- 
tion of rights, he refused bail when offered, suspended him from 
his benefice, and suppressed the publication; notwithstanding 
that one Chowney, who had published a defence of popery, 
and, in place of being punished, was not even questioned re- 
specting the publication; which, instead of being suppressed, he 



HENRY BURTON. 363 

was permitted to dedicate to Laud, who favoured it with his 
prelatical patronage. Such was the conduct of this protestant 
bishop, who pretended be a pillar of the reformation from po- 
pery ! The puritans, however, were not ignorant of his devices. 
Mr Burton, about the same time, also published his Trial of 
Private Devotions, and his Refutation of divers Arminian and 
Popish Errors, which had been broached by Montague, in his 
Appello Ccesarem ; which were both called in, and suppressed by 
the severity of this papistical intolerant. 

How long Mr Burton remained in the Fleet, under the 
bishop's suspension, we are unable to state. He was after- 
wards set at liberty; but this was only the commencement of 
his sufferings, a small earnest of what was yet in reserve for the 
trial of his patience and fortitude. For having preached two 
sermons at his own church, in Friday Street, on the 5th No- 
vember 1636, from Prov. xxiv. 21, 22. " My son, fear thou 
the Lord and the king, and meddle not with them that are 
given to change," &c; in which discourses he exhibited, in 
their natural colours, the late innovations in doctrine, worship, 
and ceremonies, and warned his people against being tainted 
with their antichristian leaven. Dr. Laud, now the archbishop 
of Canterbury, being apprised of the nature of these sermons, 
caused articles to be exhibited against Mr Burton in the high 
commission court, and summoned him to answer them, before 
Dr. Duck, without waiting till term time. On his appearance, 
he was charged with having spoken against turning communion 
tables into altars, against bowing to the altar, against setting up 
crucifixes, against saying the second service at the altar, and 
against prohibiting the afternoon sermon on the Lord's day. In 
addition to these dreadful enormities, he was also charged with 
having said, that ministers could not preach the doctrines of free 
grace but at the risk of the severest censures; and that the mini- 
sters in Norfolk and Suffolk were suspended for their non-con- 
formity to the rites and ceremonies, which had been imposed 
upon them contrary to the laws of the land. These charges hav- 
ing been declared sedition by the court, Mr Burton was required 
to answer, upon his oath, and so become his own accuser; which 
he positively refused, and appealed to the king. His appeal, 
however, availed him nothing. In fifteen days after, he was 
summoned, by Laud's authority, to appear before a special 
court of commission, where, in his absence, he was suspended 
from his office and benefice, and a warrant issued out for his 
apprehension. Thus oppressed on every side, Mr Burton form- 
ed the bold resolution of shutting himself up in his house; and, 
in the meantime, that the impartial world might have an oppor- 
tunity of deciding on the merits of the whole case, he published 



364 * MEMOIR OF 

his two objected sermons, under the title, " For God and the 
King, the sum of two sermons, preached on the 5th of Novem- 
ber last, in St. Matthew's, Friday Street, London, with an 
apology for an appeal addressed to the king, the lords of coun- 
cil, and the learned Judges." But the pursuivants of the com- 
mission, not daring to break open Mr Burton's doors, the arch- 
bishop, with the bishop of London, and several others, drew up 
a warrant, and put it into the hands of one Dandy, a serjeant 
at arms, who, accompanied by the sheriff of London, and a 
number of other armed officers, went the same evening to 
Burton's house, in Friday Street, and, between the hours of 
ten and eleven at night, forcibly broke open his doors, and, 
taking him into custody, seized on whatever books or papers 
they pleased. In place, however, of being taken before the 
lords, as the warrant expressed, he was next day committed 
close prisoner in the Fleet, by virtue of a different warrant, 
without assigning any cause for such illegal procedure. 

During the time of Burton's confinement in the Fleet, two 
anonymous publications were put into circulation ; one of them, 
entitled, A Divine Tragedy, exhibiting a catalogue of God's 
judgments upon Sabbath breakers; the other, News from Ips- 
wich; in which the innovations and merciless severity of the 
prelates were held up to public indignation, particularly the in- 
tolerant measures of bishop Wren of Norwich. These were 
supposed to have been written by Mr William Prynne, the 
lawyer. Dr. John Bastwick having also published a book, en- 
titled, Apologeticus ad Prsesules Anglicanos, and a pamphlet, 
called, The New Litany. These three prisoners, Burton, 
Prynne, and Bastwick, were prosecuted in the star-chamber 
for writing and publishing seditious, schismatical, and libellous 
books against the hierarchy, and to the scandal of the govern- 
ment. This is the substance of their indictment. These writ- 
ers had taxed the bishops with a perpetual itching after the 
gaudy ceremonies, and an incurable inclination to return to the 
exploded absurdities of the Roman church, with bitter excla- 
mations against the severity, partiality, and injustice of the high 
commission court. And the impatience and resentment of 
these dignitaries would not suffer such invectives to go for 
nothing. 

When these three defendants had prepared their several 
answers to their indictments, no counsel could be obtained to 
sign them, for fear of the wrath of these domineering prelates. 
This being the case, they presented a petition to the court, 
praying to receive them with their own signatures; which was 
most inhumanely refused them. Mr Prynne and Dr. Bastwick 
having no other alternative, left their answers at the office, 



HENRY BURTON. 865 

signed by their own hands; which availed them nothing, they 
being proceeded against pro confessio. Mr Burton prevailed 
upon Mr Holt, a learned and aged bencher of Gray's inn, to 
sign his answer; but the court ordered every thing deemed un- 
fit to be brought into court to be expunged; accordingly, they 
struck out the whole answer, consisting of forty sheets of paper, 
with the exception of a few lines at the beginning, and a few 
more at the end; and because Mr Burton would not acknow- 
ledge it in this mutilated form, they proceeded against him also 
pro confessio. 

These three prisoners being brought to the bar, June 14th, 
1637, they offered to defend their answers at the peril of their 
lives; but the court, finding they were not filed on the record, 
refused to admit them. They cried aloud for justice, and de- 
manded, as free-born Englishmen, that their answers should be 
read. This was peremptorily refused. After Prynne and 
Blastwick had been examined, the judges proceeded next to the 
case of Mr Burton, as follows : 

Lord Keeper. Mr Burton, What say you ? 

Mr Burton. My good lords, notwithstanding that we have 
laboured to give your honours all possible satisfaction, it appears 
you are determined to censure us, and to take our cause pro 
confessio. What, my lords, have you to say against my book? 
I frankly acknowledge it is mine; I wrote it, but by no means 
with the intention of raising a commotion, or stirring up sedi- 
tion in the country, as charged against me. I have delivered 
nothing in these sermons but what arose from my text, which 
was chosen to suit the day on which it was delivered, being the 
5th of November; and I stand here ready to vindicate every 
sentence delivered on that occasion. 

L. K. Mr Burton, I pray you do not stand upon naming 
texts of scripture at present; we did not send for you to preach, 
but to answer to those things that are objected against you. 

B. I have drawn up my answer with much pains and con- 
siderable expence; which answer was signed by my counsel's 
hand, and received into this court agreeable to the rule and or- 
der thereof; so that I had no reason to expect that I should be 
tbus called to a censure, but to a legal proceeding by bill and 
answer. 

L. K. Your answer was impertinent. 

B. The matter is truly astonishing, my lord. My answer 
was legally entered in the court, and I should like to know on 
what ground it was thrown out, and by what authority my de- 
fence against groundless charges, maliciously brought against 
me, was thus unjustly set aside. It was first approved, Why 
was it afterwards pronounced impertinent ? And, being ap= 



366 MEMOIR OF 

proved of, it was received into the court — Why was it after- 
wards rejected ? Justice requires that I should he apprised of 
the cause of such preposterous procedure. 

Lord Finch. The judges did you a good turn to make it im- 
pertinent, for your answer was as libellous as your hook. 

L. K. What say you, Mr Burton? Are you guilty or not? 

B. My lord, I desire you to peruse the whole of my book, 
not a passage here and there, but throughout. 

L. K. Time is short, Mr Burton. Are you guilty, or not 
guilty ? What say you to that which has been read ? Does it 
become a minister to deliver himself in such a railing and scan- 
dalous manner? 

B. It is highly becoming a minister of Christ to deliver the 
truths of his holy word. It is highly becoming a watchman to 
blow the trumpet of alarm when he sees the enemy approach- 
ing; and it well becomes the physician to prescribe bitter potions 
to his patient when mild ones are found utterly inefficient. 
Spiritually considered, a minister is the instructor, the watch- 
man, and physician of his flock, and responsible for the faithful 
discharge of his duty in these various capacities. If, there- 
fore, my sermons correspond witli the word of God, and the 
ministerial duties therein prescribed, as I humbly presume, and 
I am ready to prove they do — Then what censure becomes ne- 
cessary ? Surely none. In these days of reviving superstition 
and increasing heresy, it were more becoming the dignitaries 
of the church to encourage the preachers of the gospel, than 
thus to harass and discourage them in the discharge of these 
important duties. With respect to my answer to your allega- 
tions, you have very unjustly blotted out every sentence that 
you considered available to my exculpation, and retained mere- 
ly what you found less opposed to your tyrannical proceedings; 
and now you require me to relinquish all that bears against 
your intolerance, and recognise that alone which answers your 
own ends and purposes; but, be assured, my lord, before I will 
thus meanly desert either my cause or my conscience, I will 
sooner desert this mortal body of mine, and consign it to the 
arbitrary disposal of your lordships. 

L. K. This is a place where you ought to crave mercy and 
favour, Mr Burton, and not stand on such bold terms. 

B. Wherein I have offended, in human frailty, I crave par- 
don, both of God and man; and I pray God, that in deciding on 
this case, you may so conduct yourselves as not to sin against 
your own souls. — Mr Burton was proceeding farther to defend 
himself, when he was interrupted, and commanded to be silent; 
while the following horrible sentence was pronounced against 
him and his injured associates : 



HENRY BURTON. 367 

" That Burton shall be deprived of his ecclesiastical benefice, 
degraded from his ministerial functions and degrees in the uni- 
versity, as Prynne and Bastwick have been from their degrees 
of law and physic. They shall be fined each Jive thousand 
pounds. They shall stand in the pillory at Westminster, and 
have their ears cut off; and because Prynne has already lost his 
ears, by sentence of the court in 1633, the remainder of the 
stumps* shall be cut off, and he shall be stigmatized on both his 
cheeks with the letters S. L. for a Seditious Libeller; and they 
shall suffer perpetual imprisonment in three of the remotest pri- 
sons of the kingdom, namely, in Carnarvon, Cornwall, and 
Lancaster castles." 

Prior to the execution of this barbarous sentence, Burton's 
parishioners presented a petition to the king, subscribed by a 
great number of respectable individuals, earnestly entreating 
his majesty to pardon and liberate their beloved minister. It 
was presented by two of their number, who were instantly im- 
prisoned for their officiousness. The sentence of court was ex- 
ecuted on these three men on the 30th June, with evident marks 
of unfeeling brutality. The hangman, sawing off the remainder 
of Prynne's ears, rather than cutting them. The sufferers be- 
longed to the three most reputable professions; and their cha- 
racters, in their several faculties, were none of the meanest; yet 
have they been traduced, and meanly insulted by some bigoted 
historians, with the unworthy epithets of fellows, pillory-men, 
stigmatized scoundrels, fyc. These victims of prelatical ven- 
geance had, nevertheless, the pleasure of living to see, that the 
cruel inflictions of their enemies procured them more honour 
than falls to the share of the boasted ensignia of the star and 
garter. These honourable scars, obtained in defending the no- 
ble cause of religious liberty, pointed them out to the admira- 
tion of mankind, as heroes of the most inflexible integrity and 
unperishable renown; while their enemies, and merciless perse- 
cutors, have exposed themselves to the unqualified reprobation 
of every person of ordinary sensibility. 

On passing this unchristian sentence, archbishop Laud made a 
long and laboured speech, with the design of vindicating him- 
self from the charge of innovation, with which he was univer- 
sally branded by the puritans. In this speech, which was ad- 
dressed to the lords constituting the court, he says, " I can 
clearly and truly aver, as in the presence of God, that I have 
done nothing as a prelate, but with a single heart, and with a 
sincere intention for the good government and honour of the 
church, and also for the maintenance of the orthodox truth and 
religion of Christ, professed, established, and maintained in this 
church of England." Here the reader will judge for himself 



368 MEMOIR OF 

how far the declaration and the practice of this unmerciful and 
domineering churchman are consistent with one another, and 
whether the archbishop has not added to his relentless cruelty 
the most shameful hypocrisy. " I heartily thank you all (con- 
tinues he) for your just and honourable censure upon these 
men, and your unanimous dislike to them." These suffering 
individuals were charged with writing seditious libels, although 
their writings are wholly directed against popery, and the pre-* 
latical leaders, who were aiming at its restoration ; which ren- 
ders themselves the only seditious persons concerned in the af- 
fair; and therefore to pronounce a sentence so disproportioned 
to the supposed offence against others, while they alone were 
the transgressors, stands a lasting disgrace on their characters, 
as ministers of Christ, and even as men. 

On the morning appointed for executing this terrible sen- 
tence, Mr Burton, being brought to Westminster, and behold- 
ing the pillory erected in palace yard, he said, " My wedding 
day was not half so welcome to me as this. What makes it 
more peculiarly joyful, is the cheering thought that the Cap- 
tain of my salvation has led the way. He gave his back to 
the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; 
nor hid himself from shame and spitting. The Lord God 
will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded. If Christ 
was not ashamed of a cross for me, shall I be ashamed of a pil- 
lory for him — Never !" Being fastened in the pillory, he ad- 
dressed the immense crowd of spectators to the following im- 
port : " Men of England, I am brought here for a spectacle to 
men and angels, and notwithstanding that I am doomed thus to 
suffer the punishment of a rogue, yet, unless it be a faithful 
service to Christ, and a loyal subjection to the king, that con- 
stitutes a rogue, I am clear from the malevolent charge. If, 
however, to be Christ's faithful servant, and the king's loyal 
subject, deserve such punishment as this, I glory in it, and bless 
God that I have a clear and approving conscience. I rejoice 
that he hath accounted me worthy of these sufferings; and in 
his loving-kindness, and tender mercy, has filled my soul with 
comfort and great consolation." With a grave and cheerful 
countenance he added, « I have never been in such a pulpit be- 
fore; but who knows what fruit God is able to produce from 
this dry tree. Through these holes (meaning the pillory) God 
can give light to his church. The conscientious discharge of 
my ministerial duty, in admonishing my people against the 
creeping in of popery, and in exhorting them to a dutiful obe- 
dience to God and the king, constitutes the crime for which I 
now suffer. The truths which I have preached, however, I am 
ready to seal with my blood; and this is my crown of rejoicing 



HENRY BURTON. 369 

here, and shall be hereafter." When taken from the pillory, 
he was again brought on the scaffold, where the executioner cut 
off his ears in a very coarse and barbarous manner. They 
were paired so close, that, the temporal artery being cut, the 
blood gushed in torrents from the wounds; the sight of which 
awakened the sensibility, as well as the indignation and the 
cries of an immense crowd of spectators. While his blood was 
thus streaming in every direction, Mr Burton manifested the 
greatest coolness and composure, saying, " Blessed be God, it 
is well; be content, my soul, and suffer all with patience. Pain 
is the harbinger of pleasure; and sorrow, like the night, pre- 
cedes the joys of morning; all shall yet be well." Mr Prynne 
and Dr. Bastwick had this bloody part of their sentences exe- 
cuted at the same time and place. The day preceding this exe- 
cution, it was decreed, in the star-chamber, that Henry Bur- 
ton shall be carried to Lancaster castle, William Prynne to 
Carnarvon castle, and John Bastwick to Launceston castle, 
and there suffer perpetual imprisonment, without being allowed 
any use of pen, ink, or paper, or any other book but the bible, 
the book of common prayer, and certain other books of devo- 
tion agreeable to the form of the church of England; and that 
no person have access to them. In consequence of this order, 
Dr, Bastwick was taken from the Gatehouse on the 26th July; 
the day following Mr Prynne was taken from the Tower; 
and, on the next day, Mr Burton from the Fleet — and, 
with their sores not yet cured, conveyed to their several places 
of confinement. As they passed out of the city, vast multitudes 
of people came forth to witness their departure, and take their 
last and sorrowful farewell. As Mr Burton passed from Smith- 
field to Brown's hill, a little beyond Highgate, it was calculated 
that not less than one hundred thousand persons were collected 
to witness his departure. His wife, attending him in a car- 
riage, had great sums of money thrown to her as she passed 
along. But the liberty given to Burton and his fellow-suffer- 
ers to speak in the pillory, and the affection and compassion 
manifested by the populace, were extremely mortifying to the 
revengeful spirit of the malicious Laud; as appears from his let- 
ter to Wentworth, dated August 28th, 1637. "What say you 
to it (says the angry prelate), that Prynne and his fellows 
should be suffered to talk whatever they pleased while standing 
in the pillory, and win acclamations from the people, and have 
notes taken of their speeches, and these notes circulated in writ- 
ten copies about the city; besides, when departing to their several 
imprisonments, that thousands were suffered to be upon the 
way to take their leave, and God knows what else. And I 
hear that Prynne was very much welcomed, both at Coventry 
14 3 a 



370 MEMOIR OF 

and West Chester, as he passed to Carnarvon." The tyrannical 
archbishop, not satisfied with the severities already inflicted 
and decreed to these unhappy sufferers, while they were yet ore 
the way to their prisons, procured a fresh order, which he sent 
after them, containing a more rigorous imprisonment than the 
former; with a clause, however, in favour of the prisoners, 
namely, that his majesty will give allowance for their diet; 
which clause was over-ruled by the influence of these pious 
prelates, so that none of the prisoners ever received a penny of 
the royal allowance; and had not their friends, and even their 
keepers, been more humane than their lordships, they had 
starved in their cells. But numbers of generous and sympa- 
thising individuals having resorted to the places of their con- 
finement, the relentless archbishop, that he might add aflliction 
to their bonds, and preclude all possibility of their receiving 
comfort or relief from their wives or other relatives, procured 
yet another order; by virtue of which they were banished to 
the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, and Scilly, there to be kept in 
close and perpetual imprisonment. Burton was accordingly re- 
moved from Lancaster castle to castle Cornet, in the island of 
Guernsey, where he arrived on the 15th December 163'7. He 
was shut up in a low narrow dark room, and almost suffocated 
for want of air, and no person permitted to see or speak with 
him. Dr. Bastwick was likewise removed to the castle in the 
island of Scilly, and Prynne to the castle of Montorguill, in the 
island of Jersey, and made close prisoners. Independent of all 
the numerous acts of tyranny, and unrelenting cruelty, exer- 
cised by this prelate, his cool, deliberate, persevering, and 
implacable vengeance, and the ingenuity by which it was exer- 
cised against these three respectable gentlemen, seems to de- 
monstrate that he possessed the malignity of a devil, but want- 
ed the feelings of a man. He not only rejoiced over his vic- 
tims, but grudged them even the pity and sympathising com- 
miseration of their friends and neighbours. To find a more 
hateful character, all things considered, would be a task of un- 
common difficulty. The annals of the Spanish Inquisition 
cannot produce his superior, nor those of the veriest barbarians 
his equal; so that his memory must, of necessity, be associated 
with perpetual execration. 

These three prisoners remained in the foresaid remote islands 
till the year 1640. During this period Mrs Bastwick and Mrs 
Burton had often petitioned his majesty and the lords of coun- 
cil for liberty to visit them, or to live on the islands, or even 
to be close confined along with them; but, by the influence of 
Laud, their petitions were always rejected. Though Laud 
could never be prevailed upon to forgive these men, the holy 



HENRY BURTON. 371 

tyrant said, " He humbly besought God to forgive them !" 
Mr Prynne, however, obtained some small mitigation of his 
afflictions, in consequence of a petition presented to the king by 
Sir Thomas Jermin, the governor of Jersey. He was therefore 
allowed to attend divine service, and walk in the garden along 
with his keeper; but the implacable Laud, on hearing of this 
royal indulgence, was enraged even to madness; and sending 
for Hungerford, who had been the means of procuring it, had 
him convened before the council. 

This same year, 1640, in consequence of a petition from Mrs 
Burton and Mrs Bastwick, the prisoners were called home by 
an order of parliament, that the complaints of the petitioners 
might be investigated. Agreeable to the order of the house 
they returned. Burton and Prynne arrived at Dartmouth in 
the same vessel, on the 22d November, where they were re- 
ceived and entertained with every demonstration of enthusias- 
tic regard. On their journey they were attended with a prodi- 
gious concourse of people, and not only treated with great mag- 
nificence, but had liberal presents bestowed on them. The in- 
habitants of every town, through which they passed, came out 
in multitudes to meet them, and rent the air with acclamations 
of joy, attending them till met by the inhabitants of the next 
town. As they approached the metropolis, the inhabitants 
came forth to meet them, and congratulate them on their safe 
return, in astonishing multitudes. The road betwixt Brentford 
and London was so choked up with coaches, horses, and pe- 
destrians, that they could, with great difficulty? advance one 
mile in the hour. On entering London, the streets were wedged 
up with such an amazing conflux of the people, that they were 
almost three hours in passing from Charing-cross to their lodg- 
ings within Temple-bar. The populace carried lighted torches 
before them, strewed the way with flowers, put rosemary and bays 
in their hats, and, as they went along, with joyful acclamations, 
shouted, Welcome home ! Welcome home ! ! On the 30th Nov. 
being two days after their arrival in London, Burton appeared 
before the house of commons, and, on the fifth of the same 
month, presented his petition, entitled, " The Humble Petition 
of Henry Burton, late exile, and close prisoner in Castle Cor- 
net, in the island of Jersey." In this petition he enumerates 
the merciless sufferings to which he was subjected, and con- 
cludes by recommending his case to the impartial consideration 
of the house. On the presentation of this petition, together 
with numbers of similar import, a committee was appointed to 
investigate and decide upon their authenticity, and to report. 
Accordingly, on the 12th March following, Mr Rigby delivered 
the report of the committee; upon which the house passed the 



37^ MEMOIR OF 

following resolutions : " That the four commissioners, Dick, 
Worrel, Sams, and Wood, proceeded unjustly and illegally 
when they suspended Mr Burton from his office and benefice 
for not appearing on the summons of the first process : That 
the breaking up of Mr Burton's house, and arresting his person 
without any cause shewed, and before any suit depended in the 
star-chamber against him, and his close imprisonment there- 
upon, are against the law and the liberty of the subject : That 
John Wragg hath offended, in searching the books and papers 
of Mr Burton, under colour of a general warrant dormant from 
the high commissioners; and that the warrant is against the 
law and the liberty of the subject : That serjeant Dandy and 
Alderman Abel have offended in breaking up the house of Mr 
Burton, and ought to make reparation respectively for the same : 
That Mr Burton ought to have reparation and recompense for 
the damages sustained for the foresaid proceedings of Mr Dick 
and others, who suspended him from his office and benefice : 
That the warrant from the council-board, dated Whitehall, 
February 2d, 1637, for committing Mr Burton close prisoner, 
and the commitment thereupon, is illegal and contrary to the 
liberty of the subject : That the archbishop of Canterbury, the 
bishop of London, the earl of Arundel and Surrey, the earl of 
Pembroke and Montgomery, Sir H. Vane, Sir J. Coke, Sir 
Francis Windebank, do make reparations to Mr Burton for the 
damages sustained by this imprisonment." On the 24th of the 
same month, Mr Burton's case was again brought before the 
house, when it was farther resolved, " That the sentence in the 
star-chamber is illegal, and without any just ground, and ought 
to be reversed; and that he ought to be freed from the fine of 
five thousand pounds, and the imprisonment imposed upon him 
by said sentence, and he restored to his degrees in the univer- 
sity, orders in the ministry, and to his ecclesiastical benefice in 
Friday Street, London : That the order of the council-board, 
for transferring Mr Burton from Lancaster to the island of 
Guernsey, and his imprisonment there, are against the law and 
the liberty of the subject; and therefore that the said Mr Bur- 
ton onght to have reparation and recompense for the damages 
thereby sustained, the loss of his ears, and his other sufferings." 
On the 20th April, the house of commons voted, that Mr Bur- 
ton should receive six thousand pounds for the damages he had 
sustained; but the confusion of the times prevented him from 
receiving the money. On the 8th of June following, by an "or- 
der of the house, he was restored to his former ministry and 
benefice in Friday Street. Bastwick and Mr Prynne had simi- 
lar resolutions passed in their favour. 

On Mr Burton's restoration, he formed a church after the 



HENRY BURTON. 373 

model of the Independents; and it appears he had greatly pros- 
pered in his ministry. He is said to have been a severe disci- 
plinarian, who prohibited all immoral characters from communi- 
cating; but toward the close of his life, he became more mode- 
rate. He died in January 1647, aged sixty-eight years. 

Most of our historians, of high church principles, have not 
ceased to calumniate the labours, and deride the sufferings, of 
this zealous and determined puritan divine. Some of them 
have not been ashamed to assert, that the merciless and inhu- 
man inflictions, and cruel imprisonments, that he and his fel- 
low-sufferers received, were both just and necessary; but the 
general feelings of sorrow and regret at their departure from 
London, and the triumphant rejoicings of the people on their 
return from exile, as narrated above, show that their sufferings 
were considered both unjust and unnecessary by the great body 
of the people : That the indignity and severity of their sentence 
gave general offence, insomuch that they were no longer re- 
garded as criminals, but as martyrs to the cause of truth and 
the liberty of conscience; while the sufferings of these, and an 
incredible number of other good and loyal subjects, all for their 
non-conformity to the useless and idolatrous ceremonies, pressed 
upon the consciences of men by the despotic power and bigotry 
of the prelatical dignitaries, stands an imperishable monument 
of disgrace to the rulers of that period, both in church and 
state. Mr Hume has laboured to whitewash the character of 
Charles I. He extols him for sincerity, humanity, and almost 
every species of princely virtue; but his great talents have been 
thrown away on a subject where irreversible facts negative his 
assertions, and demonstrate, that the subject of his panegyric 
was neither a man of prudence nor a man of feeling. With 
regard to Laud *, his character is any thing but what we are 
taught to expect from a minister of the Prince of Peace — proud 
and overbearing, cruel and vindictive. After influencing the 
court to pass a cruel and unmerited sentence on one of the mi- 
nisters who had fearlessly and successfully opposed him in his 
career of cruelty, he took off his hat, and, in open court, 
thanked almighty God, who had given him satisfaction on his 
enemy. In forwarding the arbitrary measures of his Master, 
he trampled down every law, both human and divine; and his 
name will occupy a prominent place in the annals of cruelty, 
hypocrisy, and lordly oppression, to the end of time. 

Mr Burton's works, in addition to those already mentioned, 
are, 1. Censure of Simony — 2. Israel's Fast — 3. Truth's Triumph 

* Whole length portraits of archbishop Laud and Mr Burton were published in 
one print ; in which the prelate is represented as vomiting up his own works, while 
Burton is holding his head. The print is extremely scarce and curious.— Granger's 
JBiog. Hist. 



374 MEMOIR OF 

over Trent — 4. The Law and the Gospel Reconciled — 5. The 
Christian's Bulwark — 6. Exceptions against Dr. Jackson's Trea- 
tise of the Divine Essence and Attributes — 7. Jesu Worship, or 
the bowing to the name of Jesus confuted — 8. The Sounding 
of the Last Trumpets — 9. The Protestation Protested — 10. Eng- 
land's Bondage, and her hopes of deliverance, a Sermon, preach- 
ed before the Parliament — 11. Narration of his own Life — 12. 
A Vindication of Independent Churches — 13. Parliament's 
Power for making Laws in Religion — 14. Truth shut out of 
doors — 15. Truth still Truth, although shut out of doors — 16. 
Conformity Deformity — 17. Relation of Mr Chilingworth. 



THOMAS HOOKER. 

This devout puritan divine was born at Marfield, Leices- 
tershire, in 1586, and received academical education in Ema- 
nuel college, Cambridge, of which he soon became a fellow, and 
acquitted himself, in discharging the duties of this office, with 
so much ability and faithfulness, that his services were crown- 
ed with universal admiration and applause. During his abode 
at Cambridge, he was brought under such serious reflections on 
his sinful and miserable estate, and to such a deep sense of his 
unworthiness, that he was forced frequently to exclaim with the 
Psalmist, " While I suffer thy terrors, O Lord, I am distract- 
ed." Having laboured under the spirit of bondage for a con- 
siderable time, the light and consolations of the gospel shone 
into his troubled soul, and he became powerfully disposed to 
heavenly meditations. In consequence of this happy change, 
he addicted himself to select some particular promise of scripture 
on which to meditate when he retired to rest; and found so 
much spiritual improvement and satisfaction thereby, that he 
strongly recommended the adoption of a similar practice. 

Mr Hooker having experienced, that the path of wisdom is 
also the path of pleasure and peace, resolved to devote his time 
and talents to the work of the* gospel, and forthwith commenc- 
ed preaching in London and its vicinity. He soon became ad- 
mired for his ministerial endowments, particularly in comfort- 
ing the disconsolate who laboured under mental discourage- 
ment. In 1626, having been disappointed of a settlement much 
to his wishes at Colchester, he was chosen lecturer at Chelms- 
ford, one Mr Mitchell being the incumbent. His lectures were 
very numerously attended; and the blessing of God accompany- 
ing his preaching, a remarkable reformation was soon apparent 
both in town and country. By the many public houses in the 
town, and the abominable custom of keeping the shops open on 



THOMAS HOOKER. 375 

the Lord's day, the inhabitants of Chelmsford were become no- 
torious for dissipation and Sabbath-breaking; but Mr Hooker 
attacked these vices with so much pious and solemn severity, 
that in a short time Sabbath profanation, and habits of intem- 
perance, gradually disappeared, and order and sobriety became 
so general, that it was accounted a disgrace to be seen either 
intoxicated on the streets, or yet to open their shops on the day 
appointed for religious services. His useful labours, however, 
were not long continued. About four years after commencing 
his lecture in this place, he found it impossible, without con- 
forming to the national church, to continue his labours; he 
therefore gave up his pulpit and kept a school. But although 
the best and most delightful employment of this eminent ser- 
vant of Christ was now gone, his influence was still employed 
in promoting the cause of his divine Master. He engaged the 
various ministers in the neighbourhood of Chelmsford to esta- 
blish a monthly meeting, for fasting, prayer, and religious 
conference. By his influence several pious young ministers 
were also settled in the neighbourhood, and many others be- 
came more established in the doctrines of justification by faith 
in Christ Jesus. So very great was his popularity, that no less 
than forty-seven, even of the conforming ministers of his ac- 
quaintance, presented a petition to the bishop of London, testi- 
fying that Mr Hooker was a man whom they highly esteemed 
for his usefulness, his orthodox doctrine, and his blameless con- 
versation; that he was of a quiet and peaceable disposition, 
and in noways factious or turbulent — But all to no purpose, Mr 
Hooker being a conscientious puritan, the prelates could not be 
satisfied till his lamp was extinguished, and his voice condemn- 
ed to silence. In the year 1630, he was bound, in a bond of 
fifty pounds, to appear before the high commission ; which bond 
he forfeited rather than fall into the hands of the prelates, 
whose tender mercies were known to be cruelty. 

To avoid the storm of persecution, then raging in the king- 
dom, Mr Hooker fled to Holland. He had scarcely got aboard 
the vessel, and under sail, when the enraged pursuivants arriv- 
ed on the shore; but providentially too late to apprehend him. 
After arriving in Holland, he preached about two years at 
Delft, as assistant to Mr Forbes, an aged Scotch minister of 
great reputation. He was next called to Amsterdam, where he 
was employed for some time as colleague to the celebrated Dr. 
Ames. The greatest friendship subsisted between these learn- 
ed divines. The doctor declared, that notwithstanding his ac- 
quaintance with many learned men of different nations, he had 
never found one like Mr Hooker, either as a preacher or a 
learned disputant. He assisted Dr. Ames in composing his 



376 MEMOIR OF 

celebrated work, entitled, A Fresh Suit against Human Cere- 
monies in the Worship of God. About this period a number 
of Hooker's friends in England warmly invited him to accom- 
pany them to America; and not finding Holland altogether to 
his wishes, he returned to his native country to prepare himself 
for the voyage. He was no sooner come to England, than the 
bishop's pursuivants were sent in search of him. At one time 
they knocked at the door of the very chamber in which he and 
Mr Samuel Stone were sitting in friendly conversation. Mr 
Stone came to the door, and the officers demanding, Whether 
Mr Hooker was not there ? What Hooker ? said Stone — Do 
you mean Hooker that was once at Chelmsford ? Yes, replied 
the officers, that is the man. "If it be him you want (said 
Stone), I saw him about an hour ago at such a house in town." 
The officers went off in all haste, and Hooker concealed himself 
more cautiously, till he found an opportunity of getting on 
board in the Downs. He sailed for New England in 1633, and 
Mr Stone and Mr Cotton, both celebrated puritans, accompani- 
ed him in the same ship. Mr Hooker, on his arrival at New- 
ton, afterwards called Cambridge, being most affectionately re- 
ceived by his old friends, who went over the preceding year, 
said, " Now I live, if ye stand fast in the faith of Christ/' 

Great numbers from England soon followed after these ad- 
venturers, so that Newton became too narrow for them; on 
which account Mr Hooker, in 1636, with many of his friends, 
removed to a delectable spot on the banks of the Connecticut 
river, which they called Hartford, where he lived the remainder 
of his days, and was respected as the father, the pillar, and the 
oracle of the new settlement. He was an animated and im- 
pressive preacher, not only his voice, but every feature spoke 
the ardour of his soul. In his descriptions, every thing was 
life and reality. His pulpit oratory was not that theatrical af- 
fectation which some men exhibit, who labour to catch the ad- 
miration of their audience. His empassioned addresses flowed 
from a heart captivated by the excellency of divine things, and 
an earnest desire to fix their importance on the hearts of others, 
and his faithful services were pre-eminently successful. 

Some time after his settlement at Hartford, having to preach 
amongst his old friends at Newton, on a Lord's day, in the 
afternoon, his great celebrity had drawn together a vast con- 
course of people. When he began to preach, he found himself 
entirely at a loss what to say. He made several attempts to 
proceed, but found it impossible. He was therefore obliged to 
stop, and tell the congregation, that what he had prepared was 
taken from him; and requesting the audience to sing a psalm, 
he retired. On his return,, he preached an admirable sermon, 



THOMAS HOOKER. 377 

and, with the most animating address, charmed his attentive 
audience for more than two hours. After sermon, some of his 
friends took notice of the circumstance, saying, " The Lord had 
withheld his assistance." To which Mr Hooker meekly replied, 
" We daily confess that we are nothing, and can do nothing with- 
out Christ; and if it please him sometimes to make this manifest 
before our congregations, must not we be humbly contented." 

Mr Hooker considered outward ease and prosperity as the 
likeliest thing on earth for bringing the people of God into 
spiritual adversity. When at the Land's End, about to take a 
final leave of his native country, he said, " Farewell England, 
I no more expect to hear of that religious zeal and power of 
godliness which I have witnessed in thee heretofore. Adversity 
slays its thousands, but prosperity its ten thousands. I am 
much afraid, that those who have been zealous christians in the 
fire of persecution, will become luke-warm and cold in the lap 
of peace." He was a man of prayer, which he considered the 
principal work of a minister of the gospel. His public prayers 
were short, but fervent, and singularly adapted to the occasion. 
As he proceeded, his ardour usually increased, and closed in a 
rapture of devotion. Though Mr Hooker's natural temper was 
irascible, he acquired an astonishing command of his passions. 
The meanest of his brethren, even children, he treated with 
endearing kindness and condescension. A neighbour of his one 
time had sustained some damage, and Mr Hooker, meeting 
with a boy who was known to be mischievous, accused him, 
and warmly censured him for the transaction. The boy denied 
the charge; but still Mr Hooker continued his angry lecture. 
" Sir (said the boy), I see you are in a passion; I shall say no 
more till you have more patience to hear me;" and so ran off. 
But finding that the boy was not the aggressor, Mr Hooker 
sent for him, and acknowledged his fault. But notwithstand- 
ing of his condescension, he did not in the least degrade his 
ministerial function. When he entered the pulpit, he appeared 
with so much majesty and independence, that it was humour- 
ously said, he could put a king in his pocket. Judges, princes, 
or peasants, equally shared his pointed reproofs and solemn ad- 
monitions. 

This heavenly-minded divine desired not to outlive his use- 
fulness; and this desire was granted him. His last sickness 
was short; during which, when his opinion concerning certain 
points was asked, he replied, " I have not that work now to 
perform, I have declared the counsel of God." One of his 
brethren observing, that he was going to receive his reward; 
"Brother (said he), I am going to receive mercy;" afterwards 
he closed his eyes with his own hands, and, with a smile on his 
14 3 b 



378 MEMOIR OF 

countenance, expired, July 7th, 1647, aged sixty-one years. 
He was, with much propriety, styled the grave, the godly, 
faithful, judicious, and laborious Hooker. That peace of mind, 
which arose out of his faith in Christ, encouraged and support- 
ed him, for thirty years, in the ardent and indefatigable exer- 
cise of his ministerial duties, nor forsook him in the last mor- 
tal conflict. 

Mr Henry WhitefieM says concerning him, " I did not think 
there had been on earth a man in whom there shone forth so many 
incomparable excellencies, and in whom learning and genuine 
wisdom were so beautifully tempered, with purity, watchful- 
ness, and zeal, according to knowledge." " For his pre-emi- 
nent abilities, and the glorious services he performed in both Eng- 
lands (says Mr Ashe), he merits a place in the first rank of those 
worthies, Memoirs of whose lives and labours have perpetuated 
their memory." Fuller has honoured him with a place amongst 
the learned writers and fellows of Emanuel college, Cambridge. 

His works are, 1. The Soul's Implantation into Christ — 2. 
The Unbeliever's Preparing for Christ— 3. The Soul's Effec- 
tual Calling to Christ — 4. The Soul's Humiliation — 5. A Sur- 
vey of the Sum of Christian Discipline— 6. The Doubting 
Christian drawn to Christ — 7. The Application of Redemption 
by the Word — 8. The Spiritual Rule of Christ's Kingdom — 
9. Farewell Sermon, from Jer. xiv. 9. published in Mr Fen- 
ner's works; and perhaps some others. 



ROBERT BALSOM. 

This pious and very courageous puritan divine was born 
at Shipton Montague in Somersetshire, and educated at New 
Inn Hall, Oxford. Having finished his studies at the univer- 
sity, he was appointed assistant to Mr Richard Bernard of Bat- 
combe, in his native county; and upon the death of this vener- 
able divine, removed to Stoke, a village in the same neighbour- 
hood; where, having laboured about two years, with much ap- 
parent advantage to the morality and religious feelings of the 
inhabitants, the confusion occasioned by the civil war obliged 
him to flee for safety, and take shelter in Warder castle, which, 
some short time after this, was besieged by the king's troops. 
At the solicitation of Colonel Ludlow he remained during the 
siege. Upon the capitulation of the place, Balsom, walking on 
the roof of the castle, overheard three soldiers say, " We have 
sworn on the bible to take the life of one in the castle." He 
asked them who they meant, if it was the minister ? " Yes 
(said they), for he is a wizard, who, by his hellish art, has pro- 



ROBERT BALSOM. 379 

tracted the siege, by frequently supplying the castle with pro- 
vision." This they told him, not knowing him to be the man. 
The treaty concluded, and the enemy having entered, Mr 
Balsom was shut up in close prison, along with a soldier who 
was hanged the next morning. At midnight the key of the 
prison was put into the hands of these intended assassins, who 
entered the room, and (taking off their hats) stood at some dis- 
tance, seemingly doubtful and undetermined; but said nothing. 
Mr Balsom, strongly suspecting their design, thus addressed 
them : " Friends, What is your business at this unseasonable 
hour ? Are not you the men who have sworn to assassinate 
me?" With great agitation, one of them 'replied, "We have 
taken a wicked oath, God forgive us; but be not alarm- 
ed, for we will do you no harm." When Mr Balsom desired 
them to come forward, they urged him to make his escape, 
kindly offering him all the assistance in their power. But sus- 
pecting they might have some other evil design, he refused; and 
even after they had convinced him of their integrity, he still 
refused, saying, " I will rather endure all that God will permit 
them to inflict, than hazard your lives, who have thus be- 
friended me." And so, to testify their esteem and their inte- 
grity, they conducted him into the fresh air; and having cleaned 
his room, departed. 

Next morning a council was called to consider how they 
should dispose of their prisoner; and while they were debating 
about the propriety of putting him to death, one of the council 
stood up, and after pointing out the impolicy, and the gross in- 
justice of the measure proposed, declared, that whatever might 
be the result of their deliberations, he, for one, was determined 
to keep his hands clean, and his conscience clear, of such wicked 
policy and unnecessary severity, and so left the room; so that 
the council came to no decisive result. Balsom was then re- 
moved to Salisbury, where, the same night, another council, 
picked for the occasion, were summoned; by whose sentence he 
was condemned to be hanged. Having thus received sentence 
of death, the sheriff of the county waited on him in prison, and, 
after a great deal of abusive language, told him to prepare for 
his execution at six o'clock next morning; assuring him, how- 
ever, that provided he would ask pardon of the king, and at- 
tach himself to his service, he would not only be relieved from 
the sentence that hung over him, but that he might also have 
almost any preferment he had a mind to request. Mr Balsom, 
being a man of inflexible fortitude, replied, " To ask pardon, 
without being conscious of any offence, were to act the part of 
a fool; and to violate my conscience, were to make myself a 
knave; and if I had neither the hope of heaven^ nor the fear of 



380 MEMOIR OF 

hell, I would sooner die an honest man, than live either the one 
or the other." In the full expectation of execution, he rose next 
morning to prepare himself for his solemn exit. At six o'clock 
the officers arrived at the prison to bring him to the fatal gibbet; 
when suddenly the post arrived, just as he was preparing to 
come forth, with a reprieve from Sir Ralph Hopton; when, in- 
stead of death, he was forthwith carried to Winchester, where 
Sir Ralph resided. On entering the city, Sir William Ogle, 
the governor, said to Balsom, " I shall feed you with bread and 
w T ater for two or three days, and then have you hanged;" but 
he fell into better hands. Being brought before Sir Ralph, 
after some familiar conversation relative to his espousing the 
cause of the parliament, and the principles on which he had 
acted, he was committed to prison, with this charge, " Keep 
this man safe; but use him well." 

Mr Balsom, after having for some time remained in a state 
of confinement, was, by an express order, removed to Oxford, 
and committed prisoner to the castle, where he set up a lecture, 
preached twice every day, and was numerously attended, not 
only by the prisoners and soldiers, but by courtiers and towns- 
men. After having been once or twice prohibited, he told 
them, that if they were weary of him, and did not wish to be 
longer troubled with him, they might turn him out of doors 
whenever they had a mind; " for (said he), so long as I have a 
tongue to speak, and people to hear, I will not hold my peace." 
At length, by an exchange of prisoners, he recovered his liber- 
ty; and being sent for by the earl of Essex, he became chaplain 
in his army, and continued so during his command. 

Mr Balsom was, after this, settled at Berwick, where he was 
regularly employed in his favourite work of preaching. In this 
situation he had the cordial affection of his people; and, by the 
blessing of heaven on his ministry, he had also the satisfaction 
of observing, that an important reformation in the manners and 
habits of the people had been effected by means of his labours 
amongst them. But having occasion to visit his own county, 
where he was seized with sickness, and died, in 1647, to the in- 
expressible grief of his beloved and loving flock at Berwick, 
Some short time before his death, he wrote from Berwick to 
a friend in London, giving him some account of the affairs in 
the north ; which it may not be improper to insert. 
" My Dear Friend, 

" Yours was not a little welcome to me, nor am I backward 
to requite the favour. The news here are so good, that I can 
hardly hold my pen for joy. The king's coming to the Scotch 
army, will, in all probability, prove one of the greatest mercies 
conferred upon us since the commencement of the war. Never 



ROBERT BALSOM. 381 

did I hear of any christians carrying themselves so boldly, and 
so faithfully in reproving their prince, so humbly before their 
God, so innocently towards their brethren, and so seriously de- 
sirous of a settled and well-grounded peace, as the Scotch at 
this time do. They labour with much earnestness for the king's 
conversion. They tell him plainly of the blood which he has 
unjustly shed in the course of his government; and, by procla- 
mation, have banished ail malignants six miles from his person. 
They have told him, that for his transgressions against God 
and his people, he must give satisfaction to both kingdoms; and, 
moreover, they have sent to Scotland for some of their ablest 
divines to converse with him. The malignants, who were ga- 
thering around him from both kingdoms, in consequence of these 
measures, droop; and the French agent, whose activity has been 
displayed in attempting to make a breach, is greatly discounte- 
nanced. The nobles and ministers of the church profess an 
earnest longing for a happy union, and the settled government 
of Christ in his church; which being once done, they will im- 
mediately return to the paths of peace. The Independents 
themselves stand amazed at the wisdom, resolution, and fideli- 
ty, the humility and zeal that accompany their resolutions. 
The malignant party, which was much feared, are borne down. 
The mouths which were so wide, both of independents and ma- 
lignants, are closed up, that they have not a word to say, ob- 
serving how the Lord hath blessed them; so that all their ene- 
mies in Scotland are routed and brought to nothing. The 
king still refuses to proclaim Montrose and his adherents rebels; 
but the King of kings has taken the work into his own hands, 
and utterly dispersed them. I have not time to write the par- 
ticulars; but only to let you know, that I am, 

" Your assured friend, 

"R. Balsqm." 



PETER SMART, A. M. 

This great sufferer in the cause of non-conformity was 
born in Warwickshire, 1569, and educated first at Westminster- 
school, and afterwards at Broadgate's Hall, Oxford; after which 
he was elected student of Christ-church, in the same universi- 
ty. Having taken his degrees, he entered into the ministry, 
and Dr. William James Dean, of Durham, presented him first 
to the grammar school at Durham, then made him one of his 
chaplains, and, in 1609, presented him to the sixth prebend of 
the same cathedral, and the rectory of Boldovers. In 1614 he 
was removed from the sixth to the fourth prebend; but his 



382 MEMOIR OF 

patron, the bishop, dying about three years after, he received 
no farther preferment. 

The first public business that Mr Smart seems to have been 
engaged in, was his appointment to the high commission for the 
province of York; and though, at their second assembly, he 
qualified himself according to law, he seldom honoured the 
court with his presence, and never subscribed more than one 
sentence of that court. Upon renewal of the commission, in 
1627, he again qualified, but rarely attended; this was about 
ten months prior to the commencement of his troubles, occa- 
sioned by a sermon which he delivered in the cathedral at Dur- 
ham. In this sermon, preached on the 27th July 1628, he 
spoke against the superstitions and popish innovations, which 
Dr. Cosins * and others had introduced into that church, with 
little caution or reserve. His text was, "I hate all those that 
love superstitious vanities; but thy law do I love." For the 
satisfaction of the reader, we have extracted some of the most 
objectionable parts of that sermon. He said, " That the whore 
of Babylon's bastardly brood, doating on their mother's beauty, 
that painted harlot (the church of Rome) had laboured to restore 
all her robes and jewels, especially her looking-glass (the mass), 
in which she may behold all her bravery. Despising the plain 
simplicity of that modest matron (the spouse of Christ), they have 
turned out of doors all her offices, with all her household stuff, 
her tables, her books, her cups, her communions, even the very 
names of her office-bearers they have discarded. In the room 
and place of these they have substituted the word priest and 
altar; because, without a priest, there can be no sacrifice; with- 
out a priest and a sacrifice, there can be no use for an altar; and 
without both these, there can be no mass. But the priest, the 
sacrifice, and the altar, introduces an inundation of other cere- 
monies — crosses, crucifixes, chalices, images, copes, candle- 
sticks, tapers, basons, and a thousand such trinkets which accom- 
pany the mass. 

" Formerly we had ministers, we had communion tables, we 
had sacraments; but now we have priests, sacrifices, and altars, 
with immense altar furniture, and every species of massing 
implements; nay, What want we more? For if religion con- 

* Dr. Cosins removed the communion table in the church of Durham, and erected 
it altar- ways. In ornamenting it, he expended two hundred pounds; at which he 
used to officiate with his back to the people, bowing to it in an extraordinary man- 
ner, and compelling the people also to do the same. He abolished the singing of 
psalms; and, on candlemas-day, in the evening, caused three hundred wax candles 
to be lighted up in the church for the honour of the Virgin. He caused divers ima- 
ges, most richly painted, to be set up in the church; for which, and other super- 
stitious innovations, two thousand pounds were expended. He even caused the holy 
knife, for cutting the sacramental bread, to be consecrated ; and to crown the whole 
of his absurdities, he set up a splendid picture of our Saviour, with a golden beard, 
and a blue cap on his head.— See Iiushivcrth' 's Collec. vol. r. fage 206—210, 



PETER SMART. 383 

slsts in altar-decking and copes wearing, organ playing, piping 
and singing, crossing of cushions and kissing of clouts, oft start- 
ing up, then squatting down, nodding of heads, and whirling 
about till our noses point to the rising sun; in candlesticks, 
crucifixes, burning of candles, and, what is worst of all, gilding 
of angels, garnishing of images, and setting them up. If reli- 
gion consists in these, and such like superstitious vanities, cere- 
monial fooleries, apish toys, and popish trinkets — then it 
must be allowed, we never had more religion than we have at 
this present time. But they are whoremongers, guilty of spi- 
ritual fornication, who thus bow down to these idols." These 
were the most exceptionable passages in Mr Smart's sermon; 
and on the self-same day on which it was delivered, a letter 
missive was issued for apprehending him, and for bringing him 
before the dean and the high commission. Upon his appearing 
before them, he gave up his sermon to be copied, declaring he 
would vindicate every sentence it contained. On giving a 
bond, however, of one hundred pounds for his after appearance, 
he was dismissed. 

From July 28th till January 29th, Mr Smart was eight 
times before his spiritual judges. In the meantime, articles 
were exhibited against him, to which he gave written answers: 
and at length he was delivered over to the high commission at 
Lambeth, after having been confined by the commission at York 
at least four months before any articles were exhibited against 
him, and five months before any proctor was allowed him. After 
suffering great trouble from the high commission at Lambeth, he 
was remanded to York, fined in five hundred pounds, and ordered 
to recant. Which refusing to do, he was fined a second time, ex- 
communicated, degraded, deprived, and committed to prison, 
having sustained the damage of many thousand pounds, and all 
this without the sanction of any law, but in the face of the very 
letter of the law, and the plain words of the book of common 
prayer, and the homily against idolatry, sanctioned by act of 
parliament. He, nevertheless, remained in prison for eleven or 
twelve years, till released by the long parliament. The puri- 
tans had so much esteem and compassion for this maltreated in- 
dividual, that they raised him, during his imprisonment, the 
sum of four hundred pounds yearly. It ought to be observed, 
that bishop Laud was the leader in all this matchless cruelty. 
On the 12th November 1640, Smart petitioned the House of 
Commons to take his numerous complaints into their serious 
consideration. It was referred to a committee which had been 
appointed to examine into the case of Dr. Leighton and other 
injured individuals. The House ordered, that Mr Smart should 
have gratis copies of the records in the king's bench and the 



384 MEMOIR OF 

court of high commission, and, in every respect, hare the pri- 
vileges formerly granted to Dr. Leighton. On January 12tli 
following, an order passed the House, that Dr. Easdale, Roger 
Blanchard, and Phineas Hodson, D. D. shall shew cause to this 
House why they do not pay the monies adjudged to he paid to 
Peter Smart, upon a judgment in the king's hench against 
Easdale, Blanchard, and Hodson, at the suit of the said Peter 
Smart, about ten years ago. On January 22d, Mr Rouse pre- 
sented the report of the committee on Mr Smart's case; when 
the House came to the following resolutions : " 1st, That the 
several proceedings of the high commission courts of York and 
Canterbury against Mr Smart, and the several fines by them 
imposed upon him, are illegal, and ought not to bind. 2d, That 
the degradation of Mr Smart, and his deprivation from his pre- 
bend and other ecclesiastical livings, are unjust and illegal, and 
that he ought to be restored to all of them, together with the 
mean profits. 3d, That Dr. Cosins and others, the prosecutors 
of Mr Smart, ought to make him satisfaction for his damages 
sustained. 4th, That Dr. Cosins, a principal actor in Smart's 
prosecution, is guilty of bringing superstitious innovations into 
the church, tending to idolatry? and of speaking scandalous and 
malicious words against his majesty's supremacy and the reli- 
gion established. 5th, That Dr. Cosins is, in the opinion of this 
House, unfit and unworthy to be a governor in either of the 
universities, or to continue any longer head or governor of any 
college, or to hold or enjoy any ecclesiastical promotion." 

The House then referred to the committee to prepare a state- 
ment fit to be transmitted to the Lords concerning Dr. Cosins, 
and what they consider the most eligible method of making re- 
paration to Mr Smart for the damages he had sustained. On 
delivering the charge against Dr. Cosins at the bar of the House 
of Lords, Mr Rouse said, amongst other things, " That by an 
usurped authority, which trampled down the salutary laws of 
the kingdom, and had grievously oppressed his majesty's peace- 
able subjects, Mr Smart had been oppressed and ruined. He 
had courageously attacked their vile superstitions and innova- 
tions; and they, in their turn, had, by the arms of malice, re- 
sentment, and the criminal exercise of illegal power, beat him 
down to the earth; yea, they had pulled him up by the roots. 
They had taken away his means of life and comfort; yet, by 
a refinement in the art of cruelty, they had left him living, 
that he might feel the dreadful anguish they had so cruelly 
prepared for him. The cruelties exercised by the veriest sava- 
ges, says he, are tender mercies when compared with the cold- 
blooded, lingering, and lasting torments deliberately contrived, 
and unfeelingly exercised by the priesthood; and these priestly 



PETER SMART. ,385 

proficients, in this appalling art, were not satisfied with annihi- 
lating his suhstance, and degrading his character, but proceed- 
ed the length of consigning the person of a free and loyal sub- 
ject to a dungeon, whence he could obtain no release. And 
now it is prayed, that these delinquents, who have so unmerci- 
fully oppressed Mr Smart, with the design of promoting the 
cause of popery in this kingdom, may be punished according to 
the demerit of their offences, that in their persons the very 
cause of popery may appear to be punished and suppressed; and 
that Mr Smart, who has so severely and so nobly suffered for 
his zeal in the protestant cause, may at least receive such re- 
muneration as justice renders indispensable." 

In consequence of these decisions, Mr Smart received some 
reparations in name of damages; but whether adequate to his 
losses is extremely doubtful. By an order of the Lords, passed 
in 1642, he was restored to his prebend in Durham, and pre- 
sented to the vicarage of AclifF in that county. In 1644 he 
was a witness against archbishop Laud at his trial, and was still 
living October 31st, 1648, being then seventy-nine years of 
age. 

Mr Smart was a tolerable poet, a pious and judicious mini- 
ster, a grave divine, and a zealous enemy to all superstition. 
His enemies, however, have charged him with being a man of 
a forward, fierce, and ungovernable spirit, and that he was 
justly imprisoned, and duly rewarded for his excessive obsti- 
nacy. It has, moreover, been said, that Mr Smart, though a 
prebendary in the church of Durham, had not preached in that 
cathedral for seven years together, till he preached that sediti- 
ous sermon for which he was called to account; and that, 
although he held this preferment and also his health, he seldom 
preached more than once or twice in the year. This account 
of Mr Smart comes from one of his prosecutors, being also his 
inveterate enemy; and, though it had not, must appear extreme- 
ly incredible. 1st, Because the puritans universally held up 
to execration all unpreaching ministers, whom they denominat- 
ed dumb dogs, idle shepherds, with other dishonourable appel- 
lations; which we have never heard of them applying to Mr 
Smart : And 2d, Because, during the period of his long and 
merciless confinement, these same puritans, from the affection 
they bore him, and the sympathy they had in his sufferings, 
were induced to take part of his burden on their own shoulders, 
by the liberal manner in which they taxed themselves for his 
comfort and sustenance while suffering for the cause in which 
they were engaged; which, had he been but half so indolent and 
inattentive to the duties of his ecclesiastical offices as his ene- 
mies have represented him, there is no reason to believe they 
14 3 c 



386 MEMOIR OF 

would have done. The scandalous charge is therefore utterly 
incredible. 

His works are, 1. The Vanity and Downfall of Superstition 
and Popish Ceremonies, in two Sermons, preached in the ca- 
thedral church of Durham, July 1628. — 2. A brief but true 
Historical Narrative of some Notorious Acts and Speeches of 
Mr John Cosins, and some others of his companions, contract- 
ed into articles. — 3. Various Poems in Latin and English. — 4. 
Various Letters. 



PATRICK YOUNG, A. M. 

This distinguished scholar was born at Seaton in Scotland, 
and educated at the university of St. Andrews, where he took 
his degrees in arts, and was afterwards incorporated at Oxford. 
He was son to Sir Peter Young, joint tutor with George 
Buchanan to James I., and afterwards employed by his majesty 
in negociating various important concerns; for which essential 
services he was rewarded with a pension. Upon the accession 
of James to the English crown, his father accompanied his ma- 
jesty to England, and placed Patrick in the family of the bishop 
of Chester, who greatly contributed to his literary proficiency. 
In 1605 he went to Oxford, entered into deacon's orders, and 
was elected chaplain of new college. In this seat of the muses, 
he prosecuted, with singular assiduity, the study of the Greek 
language, ecclesiastical history, and antiquities; in all of which 
he acquired an extraordinary knowledge. On leaving Oxford, 
he went to the metropolis, with the view of promotion at court, 
to which, by means of his father's influence, he had easy access. 
One of his principal patrons was Dr. Montague, bishop of Bath 
and Wells, through whose interest he obtained his pension 
from the king, amounting to fifty pounds a-year; and being 
master of an elegant Latin style, his pen was occasionally em- 
ployed by the king, and some other persons of power, in writ- 
ing foreign letters. He was likewise employed in examining 
the archieves of the kingdom. One of the first objects of 
Young's ambition, was to obtain the place of keeper of prince 
Henry's library, in the palace of St. James, where the prince 
resided. In this, however, he failed; but by the influence of 
bishop Montague, he was, after some time, elected librarian to 
the king, a situation than which nothing could be more conge- 
nial to his disposition. To the royal library, therefore, Mr 
Young was a constant visitor, and spent the greater part of his 
time in exploring its contents, and classing them into catalogues. 
He had frequent literary conversations with the king, who con- 



PATRICK YOUNG. 387 

firmed him in this situation; for which he was pre-eminently 
qualified. 

On the death of the very learned Isaac Casauhon, Mr Young 
advised his majesty to purchase the most of his books and ma- 
nuscripts for augmenting his library; which was done according- 
ly. With a view of still farther augmenting the stores com- 
mitted to his care, Mr Young was anxious to visit the continent; 
but was prevented till 1617 from putting his favourite design 
in execution. Having furnished himself with letters of recom- 
mendation from the learned Camden, to his literary corres- 
pondents in Paris, he set out for that metropolis; where the 
sweetness of his disposition, his modesty and urbanity of man- 
ners, rendered him peculiarly acceptable, not only to the lite- 
rati, but also to all those with whom he had occasion to associ- 
ate. After his return, he assisted Mr Thomas Rhead in mak- 
ing a Latin version of the works of king James; a work, no 
doubt, considered by the royal author as one of the first import- 
ance. This translation, which, Dr. Smith asserts, will extend 
to all eternity * the fame of this most learned king, made its 
appearance in 1619, and Mr Young was honoured to present 
the copy bestowed upon the learned university of Cambridge; 
which was received in solemn convocation, with all due respect. 
In 1620 Mr Young entered into the matrimonial state; and 
though only in deacon's orders, was, about the same time, pre- 
sented to the rectory of Hays in Middlesex, and the rectory of 
Llanindimel in Denbighshire, and was soon collated to a pre- 
bend at St. Paul's, London, and chosen to the office of treasurer 
of that church. In 1624, upon the death of Mr Rhead, he was 
appointed Latin secretary to the king, and esteemed the fittest 
person in the kingdom to fill that office. 

Hitherto, though he had published nothing in his own name, 
yet he had acquired considerable celebrity amongst the learned 
both at home and abroad, and kept up an extensive correspon- 
dence with his friends on the continent. When the celebrated 
John Selden undertook to examine the Arundelian marbles, he 
chose Mr Young for one of his companions; and so grateful 
was he for his valuable services, in drawing up an account of 
these remains, that, passing by all his patrons of higher rank, 
he inscribed his Marmora Arundeliana to Mr Young, in an af- 
fectionate and grateful dedication. 

The famous Alexandrian manuscript of the Old and New 
Testament having been added to the contents of the royal libra- 
ry, Mr Young employed himself, with great assiduity, in collat- 
ing it with other manuscripts and printed books, and commu- 

* It has been said, that this monarch was so fond of praise, that he could swallow 
down flattery in four pound pieces; and that the bishops took care never to serve it 
out to him in smaller slices. 



388 MEMOIR OF PATRICK YOUNG. 

nicated many various readings to Grotius, Usher, and other 
learned men. He had intended to print the whole on types si- 
milar to the letters of the original. He even published a speci- 
men of his design; but some circumstances intervening, pre- 
vented the execution. Bishop Hennet charges the failure of 
this design to the puritans, by whom, he says, " Religion and 
learning were so much neglected, that neither the parliament 
nor the assembly called for the work; on which account it was 
left unfinished." The degree of credit due to this assertion, 
every reader, at all conversant with the history of this period, 
will easily judge. Wood tells us, that the arduous task was un- 
dertaken at the request of the assembly of divines; and that, 
towards the close of 1645, an ordinance was read for printing 
and publishing it. Mr Young had for his assistants the learned 
Selden and Whitlocke. Another writer affirms, that the pre- 
mature death of Mr Young prevented the completion of the de- 
sign; after which it was taken up by Dr. Grabe. 

In 1633, however, Mr Young edited, from the same manu- 
script, the epistles of Clemens Romanus, and afterwards several 
other learned works. He continued in the office of librarian 
till the death of the king, and had made preparations for edit- 
ing various other manuscripts from the royal library; but the 
confusion of the times prevented their publication. After his 
death, most of his Greek and Latin manuscripts, collected and 
written with his own hand, came into the possession of the fa- 
mous Dr. John Owen. 

From the concurrent testimony of Anthony Wood and Dr. 
Walker, it is evident that Mr Young espoused the cause and 
sentiments of the presbyterians; nor is there any evidence that 
he ever afterwards altered his opinion. He has therefore been 
justly classed amongst the puritan worthies. On his removal 
from the office of librarian, he retired to the house of his son- 
in-law, at Bromfield in Essex, where he was carried off by an 
acute disease, on the 7th September 1652, aged sixty-eight 
years. His remains were interred in the chancel of Bromfield 
church, and a flag of black marble, with an appropriate inscrip- 
tion, laid over his grave. 

Mr Young was much esteemed for his piety, and highly ce- 
lebrated for his extraordinary erudition. He was undoubtedly 
the best Grecian scholar of the age in which he lived. Bishop 
Montague used to call him the patriarch of the Greeks. On his 
character, both as a man and a scholar, a profusion of eulogies 
are annexed to Dr. Smith's Memoir of his life, from the first 
literary characters. He was consulted by most of the great 
scholars in Europe, by Fronto-Ducseus, Sirmondus, Petavius, 
Grotius, Valesius, Salmasius, Vossius, Casaubon, Usher, Sel- 
den, and many others. 



389 



JOHN COTTON, B. D. 

This renowned minister of the New Testament was born 
at Derby, December 4th, 1585, and educated first at Trinity, 
then Emanuel college, Cambridge, in the last of which he was 
chosen fellow. Under the awakening sermons, preached by the 
famous Mr Perkins, he had received some convictions of sin; 
but still his prejudice and enmity against true holiness, and 
particularly against this holy man's preaching, were so inveter- 
ate, that when he heard the bell toll for Mr Perkin's funeral, 
he greatly rejoiced that now he was delivered from his heart- 
searching ministry. The recollection of this depravity of soul, 
when he afterwards became acquainted with the gospel, had al- 
most broke his heart. The ministrations of Dr. Sibbs was the 
means of awakening and leading him to the knowledge of 
Christ and the love of the truth; yet for three years he was held 
under the most painful apprehensions, before he experienced that 
placid serenity of soul that springs from the faith of the gospel. 
After this important change, Mr Cotton had to preach at St. 
Mary's church, where the wits of the various colleges attended, 
in hopes of a flowery sermon, garnished with all the literary 
embellishments and learning of the university. But, to their 
great astonishment and mortification, he gave them a very ju- 
dicious and impressive discourse on repentance, pointing the 
arrows of conviction against the strong holds of conscious guilt 
and corruption. Most of the students were chagrined and dis- 
appointed; nor could they avoid manifesting their disapprobation 
of the sermon. It was, nevertheless, the means of converting 
the celebrated Dr. Preston, then fellow of Queen's college; and 
from this time forward the greatest friendship, intimacy, and 
affection, subsisted between these distinguished individuals. 

On leaving the university, Mr Cotton was chosen minister of 
Boston in Lincolnshire; but bishop Barlow, suspecting him to 
be infected with puritanism, endeavoured to prevent his settle- 
ment. This learned prelate could make no open charge against 
him, only that he was young, and on that account wanting in 
the gravity, experience, and authority necessary amongst so nu- 
merous and factious a people. Indeed Mr Cotton had such a 
mean opinion of himself, that he went into the bishop's senti- 
ments, and intended to return to the college. His numerous 
friends, however, anxious to have him settled amongst them, 
plied the bishop, and having persuaded him of his great learn- 
ing and ministerial talents, he at last granted their request. 

Mr Cotton met with a more favourable reception than could 
have been expected, and for a considerable time things went on 



390 MEMOIR OF 

very agreeably; but the troubles occasioned by the Arminian 
controversy became so great in the town, that he was obliged 
to exert all his abilities, authority, and influence, to allay them. 
On this occasion, it is said, that Mr Cotton so triumphantly 
established the scripture doctrines of election, ■ particularly re- 
demption, effectual calling, and the final perseverance of the 
saints, that the foundations of Arminianism were destroyed; 
and the disputes ceasing, it was never more heard of. 

Mr Cotton now entered into the matrimonial state; and it is 
remarkable, that on the day of his marriage, he, for the first 
time, obtained that assurance of his interest in the Redeemer, 
which he never lost till the day of his death. This worthy ser- 
vant of Christ, having been about three years at Boston, began 
to examine into the corruptions of the church, and to scruple 
conformity to its ceremonies and superstitions; nor did he keep 
his sentiments to himself. Whatever he discovered to be truth, 
he boldly declared; and such was the influence of his opinions, 
and so obvious were the avowed grounds on which he held them, 
that almost all the inhabitants of Boston and neighbourhood be- 
came non-conformists. But complaints were soon lodged 
against him with the bishop, and he was suspended from his 
ministry. During his suspension, he was promised consider- 
able preferment if he would conform to the ceremonies, though 
but in one act; but he refused to pollute his conscience for any 
such worldly considerations. He did not continue long under 
suspension; but was soon after restored to his beloved work of 
preaching. This storm having blown over, he had rest for ma- 
ny years, and, during the calm, was always abounding in his 
spiritual labours; and there was so pleasing a reformation 
among the people of Boston, that superstition and profanity 
gave way to practical religion and godliness, which soon abound- 
ed in every corner of the town. The mayor and most of the 
magistrates became puritans, and the ungodly party sunk into 
insignificance. 

Mr Cotton, after having examined the controversy with con- 
scientious impartiality, was decidedly of the opinion, that it was 
unlawful for any church to enjoin rites and ceremonies, for 
which neither Christ nor his apostles had left either precept or 
example : That a bishop, according to the New Testament, was 
appointed to no larger a diocese than one congregation; and that 
the keys of government and discipline were put into the hands 
of every congregational church. The public worship of God at 
Boston was therefore conducted without the fetters or formali- 
ty of a liturgy, or the use of any of those vestments and cere- 
monies which had been invented by the folly, and were now 
imposed by the commandments, of men* Many of his people 



JOHN COTTON. 391 

united together as a christian church, and enjoyed the means 
of grace, and the fellowship of the gospel, upon congregational 
principles, by entering into covenant with God and one another, 
to follow the Lord Jesus in all the purity of gospel worship. 

Mr Cotton was celebrated for his ministerial talents, and had 
acquired a very distinguished reputation. He was loved and 
highly respected by the best men, and hated and feared by the 
worst. He was much esteemed by bishop Williams, who, when 
keeper of the great seal, recommended him to the king as a man 
of singular abilities, great learning, piety, and usefulness; on 
which his majesty, notwithstanding his non-conformity, allow- 
ed him to continue in the exercise of his ministry. The cele- 
brated archbishop Usher had the highest opinion of him as a 
minister, a man, and a scholar, and kept up a friendly corres- 
pondence with him. He was likewise held in great estimation 
by the earl of Dorset, who kindly promised him, that if at any 
time he stood in need of a friend at court, he would use all his 
interest and influence in his behalf; yet, in the midst of so much 
honour and applause, his unassuming modesty and humility re- 
mained unimpaired. 

Having preached at Boston almost twenty years, Mr Cotton 
found, that it would be impossible for him, without conforming, 
to continue his ministrations. The storm of persecution, he 
saw, was gathering in the horizon of the church, and wisely 
withdrew from its fury. A son of belial, a debauched fellow, 
of depraved principles and wicked practices, to be revenged on 
the magistrates of Boston, for sentencing him to condign pun- 
ishment for his crimes, brought forward complaints against 
them and Mr Cotton in the high court of commission, and 
swore that neither the minister nor the magistrates of the town 
kneeled when receiving the sacrament, nor observed the eccle- 
siastical ceremonies. Letters missive were immediately sent 
down, by the influence and authority of bishop Laud, to appre- 
hend and bring Mr Cotton before the commission; but he con- 
cealed himself. Great intercessions were made for him by the 
earl of Dorset and others; but finding all to no purpose, the 
earl sent him word, that providing his crimes had been those of 
drunkenness, adultery, blasphemy, or any such trifling * faults, 
he could have easily procured his pardon; but seeing he was 
guilty of non-conformity and puritanism, crimes so enormous 
that they could never be forgiven, flee, says he, for your safety. 

It must therefore have been from painful experience that Mr 
Cotton afterwards complained, that the ecclesiastical courts are 

* In 1634 the mayor of Arundel imprisoned a clergyman for his notorious drunk- 
euness, and other mishehaviour ; and though confined but one night, the mayor, for 
this act of justice, was both fined and censured by the high commission at Lambeth, 
—Huntley's Prelates, page 164. 



392 MEMOIR OF 

dens of lions; that all who have had to do with them have found 
them markets for the sins of the people, cages of uncleanness, 
and roosting places of birds of prey, the tabernacles of bribery, 
forges of extortion, and fetters of slavery, a terror to all good 
men, and a praise to them that do evil ! 

Mr Cotton, perceiving that there were now no hopes that he 
should ever enjoy his liberty in his own country, resolved to 
transport himself to New England. Upon his departure from 
Boston, he wrote a very pious and modest letter to the bishop 
of Lincoln, signifying his resignation of the living. His reso- 
lution to expatriate himself was the result of mature and deli- 
berate consideration, and founded on substantial grounds. He 
observed that the door of public usefulness was apparently for 
ever shut against him in his native land : That when persecut- 
ed in one city or country, our Lord commands his servants to 
flee to another; and wishing to enjoy the ordinances of the gos- 
pel in their scriptural purity, he considered the resolution he 
had taken to be the path of present duty. Accordingly, taking 
farewell of his numerous friends at Boston, he travelled in dis- 
guise to London, where, on his arrival, several eminent mini- 
sters of his acquaintance proposed a conference, with a view to 
persuade him to conform and remain at home. To this he free- 
ly consented; and after all their arguments in favour of con- 
formity had been delivered, he answered the whole to their full 
satisfaction; then delivering his arguments for non-conformity, 
and his reasons for removing to a foreign land rather than con- 
form to the prelatical impositions, they were so well satisfied, 
that in place of bringing Mr Cotton to their views, they all of 
them espoused his opinions, and from that day forward, Mr 
(afterwards Dr.) Thomas Goodman, Mr Philip Ney, Mr John 
Davenport, Mr Henry Whitefield, and some others, became 
avowed non-conformists; for which they were all afterwards 
driven into a foreign land. Speaking of this conference, Mr 
Davenport, one of Mr Cotton's antagonists, tells us, "That 
their reasons for wishing to confer with him, rather than any 
other, on these weighty points, were their knowledge of his ap- 
proved godliness, his great learning, candour, and mild disposi- 
tion, whereby he could bear, with equanimity of temper, the ar- 
guments of others who might differ from him in their opinions. 
Nor were we in the least disappointed, says he, in our expecta- 
tions; he answered all our arguments with the most conclusive 
evidence from scripture, composure of mind, and mildness of 
spirit, constantly adhering to his own principles, and, with the 
greatest clearness of judgment and expression, removing every 
objection that had been started against them." 

Mr Cotton having fully resolved to cross the Atlantic, John 



JOHN COTTON. 393 

Winthrop, Esq. governor of the new plantation, procured him 
letters of recommendation from the church at Boston to their 
brethren in New England; and having finished his arrange- 
ments, he took shipping the beginning of June 1633, and land- 
ed in New England in the beginning of September following. 
Mr Hooker and Mr Stone, both driven out for their non-con- 
formity, were his companions on the voyage. Mrs Cotton was 
delivered of a son about a month after their embarkation, who, 
from the place of his birth, was named Seaborn. On their ar- 
rival, the town, which, on account of its three hills, had hither- 
to been called Trimountain, was changed to Boston, out of re- 
spect to Mr Cotton, who came from Boston in Old England. 
Immediately after their arrival at Boston, this famous puritan 
divine was chosen colleague to Mr John Wilson, minister of 
that place; and his labours, both as a preacher and politician, 
were of unspeakable advantage to the town. It was greatly 
owing to his wisdom and influence that in a few years Boston 
became the capital of the whole province. The civil and eccle- 
siastical constitutions, prior to his arrival, were both lamentably 
out of order, ill-digested, and indistinct; but by his vigorous and 
judicious efforts, order and arrangement were soon introduced 
into every department, and harmony and prosperity were the 
happy consequence of his labours. About 164?, when the epis- 
copal power in England began to decline, several of the leading 
members of both houses of parliament earnestly pressed him to 
return to his native country; but considering the peace, liberty, 
and safety he enjoyed in his retreat, as well as the field of ac- 
tion and usefulness in which he was engaged, he was unwilling 
again to venture his shattered bark on the tempestuous ocean, 
and so remained at Boston till his death. 

About this time numerous Antinomian tenets began to be 
propagated in New England, especially at Boston, which raised 
a dreadful confusion amongst the people. Mrs Hutchinson, and 
Mr Wheelwright her brother, were at the head of this party; 
and some of our historians do not hesitate to affirm, that Mr 
Cotton himself had drunk in some of their wild fancies; others 
deny the charge, and endeavour to prove the whole a ma- 
licious slander to blacken his reputation. It is agreed by all 
of them, however, that, in 1646, at the synod of Cambridge, he 
openly declared against all these opinions, as being some of 
them blasphemous, some heretical, some erroneous, and all of 
them incongruous. At this synod, Mr Cotton, Mr Richard 
Mather, and Mr Ralph Partridge, were each of them appointed 
to draw up a form of church government, with the view of 
drawing up one from the whole at the next meeting of synod; 
which was done accordingly. 

15 3d 



3£H MEMOIR OF 

This learned divine, though removed to New England, still 
maintained a correspondence with many persons of distinction 
in his native country, and amongst the rest with Cromwell, the 
protector; one of whose letters, written with his own hand, 
dated October 2d, 1652, is here inserted verbatim, for the sa- 
tisfaction of the inquisitive reader. Addressed thus : To my 
esteemed friend Mr Cotton, pastor of the church at Boston in 
New England. 

" Worthy sir, and my christian friend, 

« I received yours a few days since. It was welcome to 
me, because signed by you, whome I love and honour in the 
Lord : but more to see some of the same grounds of our actinges 
stirringe in you, that have in us to quiet us to our worke, and 
support us therein, which hath had greatest difficultye in our 
engagement in Scotland, by reason wee have had to do with 
some whoe were (I verily thinke) godly; but, through weak- 
nesse and the subtil tye of satan, involved in interests against 
the Lord and his people. With what tendernesse wee have pro- 
ceeded with such, and that in synceritye, our papers (which I 
suppose you have seen) will in part manifest, and I give you 
some comfortable assurance off. The Lord hath marvellously 
appeared even against them; and now againe, when all the 
power was devolved into the Scottish kinge and malignant par- 
tye, they invadinge England, the Lord rayned upon them such 
snares, as the inclosed will shew, only the narrative is short in 
this, that of their whole armie, when the narrative was framed, 
not five of their whole armie returned. Surely, sir, the Lord 
is greatly to be feared as to be praised. Wee need your prayers 
in this as much as ever; how shall we behave ourselves after 
such mercyes ? What is the Lord a doeinge ? What prophe- 
sies are now fulfillinge? Who is a God like ours? To know 
his will, to doe his will, are both of him. 

" I tooke this libertye from businesse to salute thus in a 
word : truly I am ready to serve you, and the rest of our breth- 
ren, and the churches with you. I am a poor weake creature, 
and not worthye of the name of a worme; yett accepted to serve 
the Lord and his people. Indeed, my dear friend, between you 
and me, you knowe not me; my weaknesses, my inordinate 
passions, my unskillfullnesse, and every way unfitnesse to my 
worke; yett the Lord, who will have mercye on whome he will, 
does as you see. Pray for me. Salute all christian friendes, 
though unknown. 

" I rest your affectionate friend to serve you, 

" O. Cromwell." 

Mr Cotton was a laborious student, twelve hours he consi- 
dered to be a scholar's day. He lived under a conviction, that 



JOHN COTTON. 395 

the servant of Christ ought not to he slothful, hut fervent in 
spirit, and diligent in serving the Lord; and his resolution was 
rather to wear out than rust out. His literary talents were 
great. He could converse with ease and fluency in the Hehrew 
language. His pulpit oratory was delivered with so much 
judgment and gravity, that it struck his hearers with admira- 
tion; and, at the same time, so plain, that the weakest capacity 
might easily comprehend him. He was remarkable for practi- 
cal religion and christian benevolence, and his whole life was 
one continued course of piety and charity. He was blest with 
an uncommon share of humility, modesty, and good nature; 
and though often insulted by angry men, showed no resent- 
ment. A conceited ignorant man one time followed him home 
from church, and told him, that his preaching was become dark 
and flat. To whom he replied, " Both, brother; but let me have 
the help of your prayers that they may be otherwise." At 
another time he was insulted on the street by an impudent fel- 
low, who called him an old fool. " You are right (he replied), 
I confess I am so. May the Lord make thee and me both wiser 
than we are, even wise unto salvation." At the request of a 
friend, Mr Cotton wrote his thoughts on the doctrine of re- 
probation, against the objections of the Arminians. The ma*- 
nuscript fell into the hands of Dr. Twisse, who published a re- 
futation of it. Mr Cotton, not a little surprised at his being 
taken so short, thus expressed himself, " I hope God will give 
me an opportunity to consider the doctor's labour of love. I bless 
God, who has made me willing to be taught by a much meaner 
disciple than Dr. Twisse, whose scholastic acuteness, solidity of 
judgment, and dexterity of argument, all orthodox divines so 
highly honour, and before whom Arminians and Jesuits fall 
down in silence. God forbid that I should shut mine eyes 
against any light derived from such a man, only I desire not to 
be condemned as a pelagian or an Arminian before I be heard." 
Mr Cotton's last illness was short. Having taken leave of 
his beloved study, he said to Mrs Cotton, " I shall enter that 
room no more." He was desirous to depart from a world 
where all was fluctuating and uncertain, that he might enjoy 
the company of Christ, and his glorified saints, particularly his 
old friends, Preston, Ames, Hildersham, Dod, and others, who 
had been peculiarly dear to him while living. Having set his 
house in order, and taken a solemn leave of the magistrates and 
ministers of the colony, who visited him in his sickness, he 
died, December 23d, 1652, aged sixty-seven years. His re- 
mains were interred with much funeral solemnity, and great 
lamentation. He has been denominated an universal scholar, 
and a living system of the liberal arts. He was a consummate 



396 MEMOIR OF 

linguist, and a profound theologian. Fuller has honoured him 
with a place among the learned writers and fellows of Emanuel 
college, Cambridge. Dr. Cotton Mather, the pious historian, 
was his grand-son. 

His works are, 1. The Way of Life. — 2. Doubts of Predes- 
tination. — 3. Exposition of Ecclesiastes and Canticles. — 4. The 
Way of the Congregational Churches Cleared. — 5. Commentary 
on the first Epistle of John. — 6. Milk for Babes. — 7. A Trea- 
tise on the New Covenant. — 8. Various Sermons. — 9. Answer 
to Mr Ball about Forms of Prayer. — 10. The Grounds and 
Ends of Infant Baptism. — 11. A Discourse upon Singing 
Psalms. — 12. An Abstract of the Laws in Christ's Kingdom 
for Civil Government. — 13. On the Holiness of Church Mem- 
bers. — 14. Discourse on Things Indifferent. — 15. The Keys of 
the Kingdom of Heaven. — 16. Answer to Mr Cawdry. — 17. 
The Bloody Tenet Washed and made White in the Blood of 
the Lamb. — 18. Copy of a Letter of Mr Cotton's, of Boston in 
New England, sent in answer to certain objections made against 
their discipline and order there, directed to a friend in Old 
England. 



JOHN LATHROP. 

This excellent man was minister of Egerton in Kent; but 
dissatisfied with his episcopal ordination, he renounced it, and 
was chosen pastor to the Independent congregation under the 
care of Mr Henry Jacob in London. On the departure of Mr 
Jacob for America, this little society, which had hitherto as- 
sembled in private, moving about from place to place to escape 
the observation of the bishop's spies, began to take courage, and 
meet more openly. In a short time, however, Tomlinson, the 
bishop's pursuivant, discovered them met in the house of Mr 
Humphrey Barnet, a brewer's clerk in Blackfriars, where 
forty-two of them were apprehended, and eighteen only made 
their escape. This took place on the 29th April 1632. Of 
those who were thus apprehended, some were confined in the 
Fleet, others in the new prison, and the remainder in the Gate- 
house, where they were held in durance about two years, when, 
with the exception of Mr Lathrop, they were all admitted to 
bail. During the time that Mr Lathrop continued prisoner, his 
wife fell sick and died; and Laud, contrary to his usual method 
with the puritans, particularly with the Independents, permitted 
him to visit her, and pray with her, before she breathed her 
last; which having done, he immediately returned to prison. 
At length he petitioned the king, and, at the same time, his 



JOHN LATHROP. 397 

numerous family of children laid their deplorable case, in a 
humble petition, at the feet of archbishop Laud, who, under- 
standing, it is thought, that the king was inclined to favour the 
father, condescended to grant their request. Accordingly Mr 
Lathrop was released, and set off for New England with his fa- 
mily, and about thirty of his congregation. 

During the time of Mr Lathrop's imprisonment, he met with 
some trouble from his congregation * Some persons, entertain- 
ing doubts concerning the validity of baptism as administered 
by their own pastor, one of them carried his child to the parish 
church and had it rebaptized. This gave such offence to some 
of the congregation, that the matter was discussed at a general 
meeting of the society, and negatived by a majority of the mem- 
bers; but that no declaration should be made at the present 
time, whether or not the parish churches were true churches. 
This decision, however, was displeasing to a number of the 
most rigid amongst them, who demanded their dismission; and 
uniting with others who were dissatisfied about the lawfulness 
of infant baptism^ formed themselves into a new society; which 
appears to have been the first baptist congregation in England. 
This separation took place in 1633, and the new society made 
choice of Mr Spilsbury for their pastor. The remainder of Mr 
Lathrop's congregation renewed their covenant on this occasion, 
" To walk together in the ways of God, and forsake all false 
ways, so far as he had already made, or should afterward 
make his will known to them;" and so faithful were they to 
their vows, that scarcely an instance occurred of any individual 
departing from the church, even under the severest persecu- 
tions. 

After landing in New England, Mr Lathrop was chosen first 
pastor of the church at Scituate, where he remained for some 
time, distributing amongst them the bread of life. But a part 
of his flock removing to Barnstaple, he removed with them, 
where he continued their pastor till the day of his death; which 
took place November 8th, 1653. 

He was a man of a pious and happy spirit, ever studious of 
peace; for which he was ready to sacrifice almost any thing but 
the truth. He was a lively preacher, willing to spend and be 
spent for the glory of the Redeemer, and the salvation of sin- 
ful men. Mr Prince, in compiling his chronological history of 
New England, made use of a manuscript register, written by 
Mr Lathrop, and containing an account of Scituate and 
Barnstaple, in both of which places he had been the first 
minister. 



398 MEMOIR OF 



SAMUEL CROOK, B. D. 

This pious and learned divine was born at Great Walding- 
field in Essex, January 17th, 1574. He was educated in Pem- 
broke-hall, Cambridge, and afterwards chosen fellow of Ema- 
nuel college. His father was the learned and laborious Dr. 
Crook, preacher to the honourable society of Gray's inn, and 
descended from an ancient family. Mr Crook was held in great 
estimation in the university on account of his brilliant talents, 
and the uncommon progress he made in all the branches of use- 
ful and polite learning. He was chosen reader of rhetoric and 
philosophy in the public schools, and filled these offices with 
honour and applause. While at Cambridge, he was a hearer of 
Mr Perkins, and a great admirer of that excellent divine. Mr 
Crook preached first for some short time at Caxton, near Cam- 
bridge; and, in 1692, was invited to Wrington in Somerset- 
shire, as pastor of that church ; which he accepted. 

Upon his settlement at Wrington, Mr Crook was indefatig- 
able in his ministerial labours, and succeeded much beyond his 
expectations. He preached regularly three times every week, 
or oftener, as occasion required, and that during his whole life, 
with a conversation corresponding with his labours and the doc- 
trines he inculcated; so that the affections of his people increas- 
ed towards him to the end of his days. In his preparations for 
the ministry, Mr Crook had laid in a large stock of useful 
knowledge, and now he began to lay it out in the service of 
Christ and his church with an unsparing hand. Determined 
not to serve the Lord with that which cost him nothing, his 
pulpit preparations were always made with the most critical 
attention. His sermons were grave, judicious, and appropriate, 
and his applications were carried to the hearts of his hearers 
by a powerful and pleasing eloquence. His motto was, "I am 
willing to spend and be spent in the service of the gospel." 
During a time of sickness, the physician told him, he might live 
longer if he would preach less. " Alas ! (said he) if I may not 
preach, I cannot live. What good would my life do me if hin- 
dered from prosecuting the very end for which I desire to live ?" 
When labouring under the infirmities of old age, he often 
preached when he could scarcely walk to the house of God, and 
even then his sermons were delivered with his usual vivacity. 
He did not amuse his people with airy speculations, but fed 
them with the substantial provision laid up for the church in 
the sacred repository of the divine word; from which, as a wise 
steward, he drew forth milk for babes, and strong meat for grown 
men. He is said to have been the first, in that part of the 



SAMUEL CROOK. 599 

country, who brought extempore prayer into use, an exercise 
in which he greatly excelled. 

He laboured in the Lord's vineyard, with little interruption, 
something better than forty-seven years, during which period 
he was instrumental in bringing many wandering sinners to 
Christ's sheep-fold. It is true, the bishop, on one occasion, put 
down his lecture; but it was so ordered by God, that the bishop 
was cast out of his office, and the lecture revived. During a 
life of nearly seventy-five years, he had witnessed many 
changes in the church; nor was he without a share of the suf- 
ferings allotted to the serious worshippers of God in these trou- 
blesome times. During the parliamentary war, the rude sol- 
diers tyrannized over him, even in his own house. Thev fol- 
lowed him into his study with drawn swords, swearing they 
would put him to instant death for not joining them in their 
bloody cause. The Lord, however, delivered him from all these 
enemies. 

During his last sickness, Mr Crook solemnly protested, that 
the doctrines he had taught were the truths of God: and that in 
these doctrines consisted all his salvation and all his desire. 
He received the notice of his approaching death not only with 
composure, but with cheerfulness; and having no prospect of 
labouring any more in the church of Christ, he requested his 
friends not to pray for the continuance of his life, but for the 
spirit of faith, patience, and repentance, and for that joy and 
peace in believing which the Holy Spirit vouchsafes to the 
heirs of the heavenly inheritance. " Lord (said he), cast me 
down as low as hell in repentance and humiliation ; but O raise 
me to heaven in faith, love, and joy in thy salvation." The 
Tuesday before he died, he said, " This day week is the day on 
which we used to remember the nativity of Christ, and on this 
day I have preached Christ crucified. I shall hardly live to see 
it again; but my consolation is, that for me, even for me, was 
this child born, and to me was this Son given." He died, De- 
cember 25th, 1 649, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. Mr 
Clark says, " He was a person of quick apprehension, a lively 
imagination, a profound judgment, an excellent memory, and 
possessed of great learning and piety. He was grave without 
being austere, courteous and pleasant, without either levity or 
hypocrisy, and charitable almost to a fault." Fuller has placed 
him on the list of the learned writers of Emanuel college, Cam- 
bridge. 

His works are, 1. Three Sermons. — 2. Death Subdued. — 3. 
The Guide to True Blessedness. — 4. Divine Characters. 



400 MEMOIR OF 



PETER SAXTON, A. M. 



This venerable divine was born at Bramley, in the parish 
of Leeds, in Yorkshire, and had his education at Cambridge, 
where he took his degrees in arts, He was presented, both by 
the king and Sir Edward Stanhope, to the rectory of Edling- 
ton in his native county. He was at first a conformist, but 
afterwards found reasons for altering his opinion with respect 
to the forms of the established church; from which he became 
so much alienated, that he called the surplice the whore's smock. 
But having espoused the sentiments of the puritans, and not 
being ashamed publicly to avow them, he could find no rest in 
his native country. A cruel persecution having overspread the 
land, Mr Saxton retired from the storm, and sought a place of 
liberty and security in New England, where he arrived in the 
year 1640. There we find his name, as minister of Scituate, 
classed amongst the first of those persecuted puritans, who, by 
their godly ministry, illuminated the dark regions of North 
America. In this situation Mr Saxton continued for some 
time; but the unsettled condition of the colony, together with 
some unpleasant contentions in the plantation where he lived, 
were the causes of his removal, first to Boston, and afterwards, 
when advanced in years, to England. On his return from Bos- 
ton, the ship was overtaken with a storm, so dreadful, that 
even the mariners gave all over for lost; and those whom nothing 
could induce to call on the name of the Lord before, came 
trembling to Mr Saxton, in all the agony of despair, whom 
they found with his arms stretched out to heaven, calling 
out, " Who are now ready to start for heaven ? Who are bound 
for the haven of eternal rest?" But when at their wits end, 
the storm was changed into a calm, and they arrived safely at 
the desired port. On his arrival in England, he had the offer 
of a considerable living in Kent; which he rejected, choosing 
rather to accept the vicarage of Leeds in his own county; 
where he was inducted in 1646, and held till his death, 
in April 1651. He was a venerable, pious, and learned 
divine; but was in the habit of using many homely expres- 
sions, which often created a smile, and, on one occasion, 
a downright burst of laughter in a country church. His 
text was, Job 11, 12. "For vain man would be wise, though 
born like a wild ass' colt." Observing the irreverence of 
the people, he told them he would make them cry before he 
had done; and was as good as his word; for when he came to 
the application of his sermon, the aged minister, for whom he 
was preaching, speaking of this circumstance, says, " That he 



PETER SAXTON. 401 

had never seen the like before in that church, for the greater 
part of the congregation were bathed in tears." He also gives 
Mr Saxton the character of a very studious and learned man, 
and a great Hebrician, who constantly carried his Hebrew bible 
into the pulpit with him. There is a book under his name, en- 
titled, Christmas Cheer, or Profitable Notes of two Sermons, 
preached on the 25th December, being commonly (how rightly 
let others judge) called christmas day, and on the day follow- 
ing, commonly called St. Stephen's day. 



RICHARD BLACKERBY. 

This eminently pious and learned divine was born at Wor- 
lington in Suffolk, in 1574. He had his education at Trinity 
college, Cambridge, where he remained nine years, and made 
amazing proficiency in all branches of useful learning. Here 
he sat under the ministry of that eminent servant of Christ, Mr 
Perkins, whose sermons were the means of effectually convert- 
ing him to the faith of the gospel. For several years he labour- 
ed under the most painful apprehensions as to the state of his 
soul; and while groaning under these convictions, in a state ap- 
proaching to melancholy, his father, unconscious of the cause of 
his dejection, called him home, in hopes that a change of air 
might restore his health; but the change had no effect. Some 
time after this he found peace with God, and comfort in his 
own soul, which never after forsook him till his last hour. 
Upon leaving the university, he became domestic chaplain to 
Sir Thomas Jermin of Rushbrook in Suffolk, and afterwards to 
Sir Edward Lukenor of Denham, in the same county. In this 
situation he remained till he married the daughter of Mr Timo- 
thy Oldham, minister of Denham. Mr Blackerby, after hav- 
ing remained with his father-in-law the matter of two years, 
had a call to preach at Feltwell in Norfolk, where he remained 
but a short time, being obliged, on account of his non-conformi- 
ty, to remove to Ashdon in Essex, where, for twenty-three 
years, he was employed in the education of youth. Some of 
Mr Blackerby's scholars became men of considerable celebrity. 
Dr. Bernard, whom he recommended to archbishop Usher, and 
afterwards became his chaplain, was one of them. On account 
of his non-conformity, though he could not, with a good con- 
science, accept of any pastoral charge, he always continued to 
preach and exhort wherever he could find an opportunity; and 
during the last ten years of the above period, he preached re- 
gularly at Henningham in Essex, or Stoke, or Hundon in Suf- 
folk. Thus Mr Blackerby, when persecuted in one place, re- 
15 3 e 



402 MEMOIR OF 

tired to another; by which means, though living in hard and 
troublesome times, he was seldom kept silent for any consider- 
able time, His method of preaching consisted chiefly in open- 
ing the scriptures, from which he made appropriate observa- 
tions, concluding with a close and impressive application. He 
had an uncommon understanding of the original languages; 
studied hard to discover their true meaning and import, and 
had much holy converse with God in prayer; and his preaching 
was attended with such a copious outpouring of the Spirit, 
that it is said he became the spiritual father of more than two 
thousand persons. The word of God, dropping from his lips, 
became the savour of life unto life to them who heard it; or it 
had the effect of hardening and enraging them, both against the 
preaching and the preacher. At Hundon he met with power- 
ful opposition from many of the principal inhabitants, who 9 
uniting together against him, procured his suspension: but it is 
said that the judgments of God pursued them, so that they 
were blasted in their estates, some reduced to paupers, and all 
of them, with one exception, died miserable deaths. The Sab- 
bath after his suspension, one of these men, boasting in the 
church-yard, that now they had got Blackerby out of the pul- 
pit, a woman, standing by, replied, " Blackerby will preach in 
Hundon pulpit when you w T ill be roaring in hell;" and it was 
observed, that the very Sabbath after this man was buried, Mr 
Blackerby, having obtained his liberty, preached on that day in 
Hundon pulpit. 

After the persecuting prelates were stript of their oppressive 
and tyrannical power, and conformity was no longer required 
to their superstitious ceremonies, Mr Blackerby was chosen 
pastor of Great Thurlow in Suffolk, where he continued the 
remainder of his days, labouring, with zeal and faithfulness, to 
promote the glory of God, and the best interests of men. He 
was taken ill in the pulpit, and continued in a weak state for 
six weeks, though he kept his bed only for two days, when he 
died, in 1648, aged seventy-four years. 

Mr Blackerby was a man of exemplary character, as appears 
from the account given us by Mr Clark, " During his long 
life (says this author) he never seemed to lose a moment in idle- 
ness; but, like a wise man, occupied his leisure hours in pre- 
paring and providing for a state of immortality. He rose early 
both in winter and summer, and spent the whole day in read- 
ing, meditation, and prayer, or in the instruction of others. 
He was ever conscientious in the discharge of the duties of fa- 
mily religion. He instructed his pupils daily in the knowledge 
of religion and the practice of piety, as well as in useful learn- 
ing, and walked before them in love, holiness, and propriety of 



RICHARD BLACKERBY. 403 

conduct and conversation. Young students from the university 
put themselves under his tuition, that they might be farther 
prepared for the work of the ministry, to whom he taught He- 
brew, explained the scriptures, read lectures on divinity, and 
gave instructions relative to learning, doctrine, moral conduct, 
and ministerial duty." 

He was a strict observer of the Sabbath, and particularly 
careful to recommend the observance of that holy day to others. 
Being once invited to preach at Linton in Cambridgeshire, 
where a fair was kept on the Lord's day, he so effectually con- 
vinced the inhabitants of the sin and shamefulness of the prac- 
tice, that, it is said, the fair was ever after kept on another day 
of the week. This holy man was crucified to the world, and 
the world was crucified to him; and though no man had a more 
tender regard for his relations and friends, the loss of them 
never discomposed his mind, nor interrupted his communion 
with God. The love of the creature could never draw his heart 
and affections away from the Creator. He had often, before 
his death, declared, that for more than forty years he never had 
a single doubt of his salvation. He was accounted the best He- 
brew scholar in Cambridge; and Granger accounts him perfectly 
skilled in the learned languages. 



JOHN JANEWAY. 

This very extraordinary individual was born at Lilley in 
Hertford, October 27th, 1633. He had the early part of his 
education at Paul's school, London, under the care of Mr 
Langley, where he made great progress in Latin, Greek, He- 
brew, mathematics, and astronomy. He was afterwards sent 
to Eton college, where he was accounted the glory of the 
school, and the wonder of the age. At seventeen he entered 
King's college, Cambridge, where the electors contended for the 
patronage of so promising a youth. Here he afterwards be- 
came fellow. 

In addition to his astonishing proficiency in literature, he 
possessed many other endearing qualifications. He was candid 
and agreeable, courteous and ever obliging, without the least 
appearance of vanity. His great learning was attended with 
great modesty and prudence, and such a command of his pas- 
sions, as preserved him from the follies and the vices of youth; but 
still he had no relish for religion. The concerns of an eternal 
world, as yet, gave him no uneasiness. But God, who had 
chosen him to shine like the morning star in his church, in the 
good pleasure of his goodness, wrought in his soul the work oi 



404 MEMOIR OF 

faith with power, and Mr Baxter's Saints' Everlasting Rest was 
the principal mean of his conversion to God. This important 
change in his life and character was soon made manifest to all. 
His time and talents were now less employed in the contempla- 
tion of the stars, the rectitude and rapidity of their motions, 
and all the glory of their arrangement, seeing the day star from 
on high had visited his benighted soul, and the Sun of 
Righteousness had arisen upon him with healing under his 
wings. His great concern now was to learn the will of God, in 
his word, and to please and enjoy him for ever. For this he 
laboured, with indefatigable pains and industry, in studying the 
scriptures, which are able to make men wise unto salvation. 
He began to pity those who were curious in their inquiries 
after almost every thing but Christ; and though he accounted 
human learning exceedingly profitable, and even praise- worthy, 
when wisely conducted, yet, when fixed on any thing short of 
Christ and him crucified, he accounted it all but loss; and 
when not employed for his glory, a sword put into the hand of 
a madman, wherewith to destroy himself and all that came in 
his way. 

In this state of mind, he was exceedingly concerned how he 
might express his gratitude to God, who had called him from 
darkness into his marvellous light; and for this purpose, opened 
a correspondence with his relations, his friends, and many of 
his acquaintances, to whom he addressed many letters on divine 
subjects, so judiciously written, that they seemed more like the 
productions of age and long christian experience, than that of a 
youth. He could not help announcing to others what he him- 
self had seen and heard, felt and experienced, of the grace and 
condescending goodness of God. To exalt the glory of his dear 
Redeemer, and persuade perishing sinners to shelter themselves 
from the wrath to come, under the immaculate covering of his 
righteousness and atoning sacrifice, was the great object of his 
solicitude. But the gravity of his manner, the striking majesty 
and pathos of his expressions, the vehemence of his expostula- 
tions, and the pressing power of his applications, can only be 
seen in his own language. 

Before he had reached the age of nineteen, in writing to his 
father, who was in great distress of mind, he thus addressed 
him : « The causes of your despondency, and the dejection and 
melancholy that overshadows your soul, give me leave to 
guess. The first, I think, arises from your reflecting on your 
entering on the work of the ministry, without that reverence of 
God, love to Christ, and compassion for the souls of perishing 
men, which are requisite in all who undertake this holy office. 
It may be there was also a greater regard to your living in the 



JOHN JANE WAY. 405 

world, than your living to God and the spiritual interest of his 
people. Be it thus, be it better or worse, the remedy is still the 
same. These reflections have in them a heart-corroding power 
when felt unaccompanied by the light of pardoning grace. But 
bad thoughts and continual sorrow keep the wound open too 
long, and are not therefore available in removiug the disease. 
Wounds indeed must be opened in order to be cleansed, they 
must be opened, that their filth may be discovered; but no 
sooner has the balm of Gilead been applied, than they ought to 
be bound up, that the balsam may have its undisturbed efficacy 
and operation in removing the symptoms, and closing up the 
wound. 

" A second cause of your heaviness may arise from a sense of 
the untoward disposition, and unimproving state of the people 
committed to your care; and, indeed, who can help mourning 
over a people who have no pity, no charity or compassion for 
themselves? I have often wrestled with God that he might 
guide your steps in the way of duty concerning them, which I 
am persuaded is also your humble request at the throne of mer- 
cy. Now, after seriously examining your own heart as to the 
necessary steps to be taken, whatever your conscience points 
out as the present duty, that do; and having done so, leave the 
result to God, who worketh in us both to will and also to per- 
form. 

" You may perhaps have, besides these, some uneasy thoughts 
respecting your family when you are gone; but let faith and 
former experience teach you to drive away all such thoughts. 
Our good God is the father of the fatherless, and the widow's 
strength and support. Your constitution and solitary habits 
may likewise contribute to your present melancholy; but there 
is a duty, which, if properly performed, will remove them all, 
and that is, heavenly meditation, and the contemplation of the 
glory yet to be revealed. Would we walk with God in this 
duty but one hour in the day, what a powerful influence it 
would have on the whole day ! and were it duly performed dur- 
ing the whole life, the happy and comfortable consequences are 
not to be calculated. I knew the nature and utility of this duty 
in some measure before; but Mr Baxter's Saints' Everlasting 
Rest has given it a more deep and lasting impression on my 
heart, for which I have great cause ever to bless God. It is a 
bitter sweet; bitter to corrupt nature, but sweet and ravishing 
to the regenerated part. I entreat you, therefore, yea, charge 
you, with all humility and tender affection, that you spare at 
least half-an-hour for God every day, in the delightful exercise 
of heavenly contemplation/ in this most precious soul-reviving, 
soul-ravishing, soul-perfecting duty. Take this from your dear 



406 MEMOIR OF 

friend, as spoken in reverence, faithfulness, and filial affec- 
tion." 

Having arrived at the age of twenty years, he became fellow 
of his college, and wrote many letters to his brothers, accom- 
panied with his earnest prayers and tears for their spiritual 
benefit, who, together with many of his acquaintances, will 
have cause to bless God for ever that they received his pious 
instructions. He spoke to them all in the language of the 
apostle, " Brethren, My heart's desire and prayer to God for 
you is, that ye may be saved. Distance of place, says he, can- 
not dissolve the natural bond by which we are one blood; 
neither can it cool our affections for one another, where true 
love exists in the heart. I can only say for myself, that I feel 
the power of this amiable affection better than I can express it. 
But love felt, and not expressed, loses much of its use and in- 
fluence in our own lives and the lives of others. I am there- 
fore anxious to make my love and regard for you all manifest 
in the best way I can. Let us look on one another, not only as 
brethren by blood, but also as being members of the same body, 
whereof Christ is the head; and happy, thrice happy, will that 
day be, when Christ shall discover this union. Let this there- 
fore be the object of our greatest regard, of our strongest de- 
sires, of our unceasing endeavours, to meet together in Christ; 
for if we be in Christ, and Christ in us, then shall we be one 
in each other. 

"You cannot complain of the want of instruction. God 
hath not been to us as the dry and barren wilderness; he has 
given us line upon line, and precept upon precept; he hath 
planted us by the rivers of water; and though the Lord alone 
giveth the increase, we are not to stand by and do nothing. 
The ground must be cultivated if we look for an abundant har- 
vest; our corruptions must be overcome, and all our spiritual 
enemies discomfited, before we receive the crown. These are 
objects worthy of our best efforts, and our most exalted ambi- 
tion. Seek them by earnest prayer and daily meditation. 
Keep your hearts always in a praying frame. These are not 
only necessary duties, but privileges, unspeakable privileges. 
If you can say nothing, oh ! lay yourselves in the dust before 
the Lord. You will find more sweetness, more internal plea- 
sure and satisfaction, in one glimpse of the love of God, than 
all the empty glories and grandeur of the world could ever com- 
municate. O try the experiment ! O taste, taste and 
be satisfied how good our God is ! Say unto God, let me be 
any thing in this world, but let me have Christ in me the hope 
of eternal glory; and wrestle with him in prayer till he has in 
some measure satisfied your longing soul with his goodness* 



JOHN JANEWAY. 407 

Oh ! my brothers, how my heart works, how my bowels yearn 
towards you ! O that ye but knew with what affection I now 
write you, and with what prayers and tears these lines have 
been mingled. The Lord send these things home to your 
hearts, and give you grace to consider and apply them to your- 
selves. 

" Give me leave, my dear brothers, to deal plainly with you; 
I love you so well, that I cannot endure the thought of your 
souls being lost. Know, then, that there is such a thing as the 
new birth; and that except a man be born again, he cannot en- 
ter into the kingdom of heaven. This new birth begins in a 
sense of sin, and proceeds with a sorrowing for sin, and with a 
resolution to strive against it; and at last with a hatred, an ir- 
reconcilable hatred of sin, and a love of holiness, without which 
no man can see the Lord. Without this there can be no salva- 
tion. May the Lord deliver us from a secure heart, crying, 
peace, peace, while there is no peace; for unless we are brought 
to relinquish our own righteousness, as well as our sins, there 
is no hope of our salvation. We must see our absolute need of 
Christ, and give ourselves up to him, to be covered by his 
righteousness, atoned by his blood, and governed by his law. 
Upon our faith and repentance we are justified, and the spirit 
of Christ, dwelling in us, subdues our corruptions, and invigo- 
rates the new man; so that we are enabled to make progress in 
a life of true holiness. 

" It is unworthy of a christian not to act for Christ in the 
face of every opposition. Be not ashamed of Christ, nor the 
doctrines of his word, nor afraid of the frowns of a wicked 
world; but be careful always to keep a conscience void of of- 
fence, and by no means yield to any known sin. Read the 
scriptures daily; these are they that testify of Christ and his 
salvation; and, O pray, pray without ceasing; and my greatest 
desire on earth is, that you may be all found in Christ, not hav- 
ing your own righteousness." 

Mr Jane way was a man of prayer, and some times so tran- 
sported in that devout exercise, that he scarcely knew whether 
he was in or out of the body. His conversation was in heaven, 
and the consolations of his soul, when engaged in this duty, 
were such, that he frequently found it difficult to leave off; and, 
by a happy experience, he could subscribe to the declaration of 
the wise man, " That wisdom's ways are pleasantness, and all 
her paths are peace." Like Jacob, when engaged in this holy 
exercise, he wrestled with God for the blessing, and was ever 
unwilling to rise from his knees without some gracious mani- 
festation of his love and favour. And his requests were heard, 
and often remarkably answered, as appears in the following 



408 MEMOIR OF 

instance : His father, when on his death-bed, was deeply ex- 
ercised with doubts and apprehensions as to the state of his 
soul; and in this perplexity of mind, disclosed his heart to his 
son, saying, " O son, the passing of an immortal spirit into 
eternity is a momentous concern. Dying is a most solemn 
business, oh ! a fearful business, for one who has not his pardon 
sealed, and his evidence clear for heaven. I am under no small 
apprehension respecting my own state for another world. O 
that God would clear up his love, that I might be enabled, with 
cheerful composure of spirit, to say, I can die, I can look death, 
with all his terrors, in the face, and venture on an invisible 
eternity with well-grounded peace and comfort of soul." Mr 
Janeway, observing the desponding spirit of his dear father, re- 
tired to wrestle with God in prayer, that he would lift upon 
him the light of his countenance, restore him the joy of his sal- 
vation, and the comfortable assurance of the love and pardon- 
ing mercy of his God and Saviour. On returning to the bed- 
side of his dying father, he asked how he did; but for some 
time received no answer, his father being unable to speak, 
though he wept exceedingly. Recovering himself at last, he 
burst out in these expressions : " O son, now he is come, now 
he is come, blessed be God he is come, and now I can die. The 
Spirit of God hath witnessed with my spirit that I am one of his 
children ; and now I can look up to God as my Father, and 
Christ as my Redeemer. My heart is full of consolation, it is 
brim full, I can hold no more. Now ! now I know what is 
meant by the peace of God that passeth all understanding. Bless 
the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me magnify his 
holy name, who hath forgiven all mine iniquities, and sealed my 
pardon. Blessed be God, I can now die, and my desire is to 
depart and be with Christ. Now, O Lord, let thy servant de- 
part in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. When I 
walk through the vale and shadow of death I will fear no evil, 
for thou art with me. When one is dying, O how pleasant and 
transporting it is to behold the smiling countenance of his Re- 
deemer. How refreshing the consideration, that when heart 
and flesh, and all sublimary things fail, to have God for the 
strength of our heart, and our portion for ever." In this hap- 
py frame of spirit the old man departed this shifting scene of 
showers and sunshine. 

Upon the death of his father, Mr Janeway endeavoured to 
fill his place in the family, by the tender and affectionate care 
he took of his mother, his sisters and brothers; and his pious 
example, his wise instructions, and prudent conduct, had a 
powerful and pleasing effect on the whole family. The elder, 
as well as the younger branches, loved, reverenced, and obeyed 



JOHN JANEWAY. 409 

him; so that he was the comfort of his widowed mother, and 
the guardian, instructor, and pattern of imitation to his 
brethren. But some time after this, returning to King's col- 
lege, he was invited to become domestic chaplain in the family 
of Dr. Cox, where he fully realized the expectations of his em- 
ployer. His deportment was so courteous and obliging, and 
his conversation so pleasing and instructive, that he gained the 
affection, and even the admiration, of all. But ill health obliged 
him to relinquish this agreeable situation, and retire to his 
mother's house, in hopes that the change of air would remove 
his complaint. While residing at his mother's, he fell into a 
weak and languishing state; and finding the malady daily gain- 
ing ground, " My days are numbered (said he), and here let 
me wait with patience for the welcome summons that shall call 
me home to my Father's house, and the possession of the hea- 
venly inheritance, to Christ the Mediator, to the glorious com- 
pany of angels and the redeemed from amongst men. Can any 
thing on earth come in competition with objects so transcendent- 
ly glorious. O that crown that shall encircle the temples of all 
those who have fought under the banner of Christ, when the 
God of peace shall have bruised satan under their feet ! O 
that rest which remains for the people of God, when their war- 
fare is ended, their iniquities forgiven them, and when, from 
this region of watching and fighting, of sorrow and suffering, 
they shall return and come to Zion, with songs of triumph over 
sin, death, and the grave. And, blessed be God, I can say, with 
all the confidence of faith, they are mine; mine is that crown of 
righteousness; mine is that Sabbath of eternal rest, and that 
song of endless triumph. For I know, that when this earthly 
tabernacle is dissolved, I have a building of God, a house not 
made with hands, durable as the pillars of heaven, and more 
immoveable than the foundation of the everlasting mountains ! 
With prospects so glorious, who would wish to linger and lan- 
guish in this vale of tears ? My desire, therefore, is to be dis- 
solved and to be with Christ, which is far better." 

Writing to a friend under perplexing thoughts concerning 
the state of his soul, he thus addressed him : " Stand still and 
wonder, behold and admire the love of Christ. Here is an 
ocean of love, cast thyself therein, and thou shalt be encom- 
passed with the height, the depth, the breadth, and length, of 
his love, and filled with all the fulness of God. What would 
you have more ? God is an all-sufficient portion, and the only 
satisfying portion of an immortal soul. Hast thou not known, 
hast thou not tasted, that he is not only altogether lovely, but 
altogether love ? While I write this, my heart burns within me, 
my soul is all on fire, I am sick of love. But now, methinks, I 

15 3f . 



410 MEMOIR OF 

see you drowned in tears, because you do not feel such power- 
ful workings of love in your soul. Weep on — love, as well as 
grief, has its tears ; and tears of sorrow, as well as tears of love, 
are kept in God's bottle, and marked in his book. Know, 
therefore, that these tears are just the streams of Christ's love 
flowing into thy soul, and of thy love flowing out towards 
him." 

Mr Jane way, however, did not always bask in the cheering 
beams of the Sun of Righteousness. Like other saints, he had 
his cloudy as well as his clear and cloudless days. Like the 
apostle, lest he should be exalted above measure, the adversary 
was suffered to buffet him ; but armed with the shield of faith, 
the breastplate of righteousness, and his head covered with the 
helmet of salvation, with the strength of Christ made perfect 
in his weakness, he left the field more than a conqueror. He 
was always afraid of spiritual declension, both in himself and 
others, carefully noticing the smallest departure of his heart 
from God, as well as God's withdrawing the light of his coun- 
tenance from him, watching also, with a godly jealousy, over his 
intimate friends and relatives. To one of his brothers he wrote 
thus : " You live in a place where strict and close walking with 
God hath few examples, and God's children are apt to forget 
their first love. Our hearts are prone to carelessness and ne- 
gligence on our watch. When conscience is put off with some 
poor excuse, religion withers, and the seeming zealot becomes 
a Laodicean; and he who once appeared to march with unhalt- 
ing pace in the high way of holiness, becomes weary of his 
journey, lags behind, or steps out of the way, and comes to 
nothing. Alas ! it is too common to have a name to live, and 
yet be dead. Read this, and tremble lest it be your own case. 
When we are most asleep, remember our enemy will be most 
awake — Watch therefore. I consider your age, I know where 
you dwell, neither am I ignorant of the temptations to which 
you are exposed, I cannot therefore help being jealous over 
you." 

At the age of twenty-two years, he entered on the sacred 
work of the ministry, under a deep impression of the worth of 
immortal souls, and the awful responsibility of his office; but, 
alas ! he never preached more than two sermons, from Job xx. 
21. " Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace, thereby 
good shall come unto thee;" which he is said to have delivered 
with so much clearness, compassion, power, and majesty, as 
greatly amazed those who heard him. 

During the closing scene of his life, Mr Janeway seemed 
wholly absorpt in the contemplation of Christ, heaven, and 
eternity. He lived as a stranger in the world, as a pilgrim ap- 



JOHN JANEWAY. 411 

proaching the end oft his journey, and now within sight of the 
land of promise. I$i s meditations, his discourse, his whole de- 
portment, indicated that he was fast ripening for glory. He 
was never satisfied but when employed in those exercises which 
brought him nearer to God and the kingdom of heaven; and 
from his own happy experience, he could say to others, " Come 
hither, and I will tell you what God hath done for my soul." 
In the full possession of all necessary comforts, he longed to be 
dissolved; and the thoughts of the last judgment sweetened all 
his enjoyments. " Were the day of judgment to come this 
hour (said he), I should be glad with all my heart. Then 
should I hear such thundering, and behold such lightnings, and 
such dreadful convulsions attending the dissolution of nature, 
as no eye hath seen, no heart hath conceived, and which no 
ear of man hath ever heard. Our God, arrayed in all the 
splendour of his divine attributes, appearing in the clouds of 
heaven, and seated on a great white throne, of which justice, 
judgment, and mercy, are the immoveable foundation. The 
graves opening, the dead arising, the world in flames, and the 
elements of nature melting with the intensity of heat. All or- 
der annihilated, the stars of heaven bewildered in their courses, 
and suns and systems blended in one universal mass of ruin 
and disorder. Ah I who can live when God doth this ? Who 
can hold up his head amid the innumerable company there as- 
sembled before the universal, the impartial Judge, attended by 
ten thousands of his saints, and surrounded by all the splendour 
of heaven ? Nature shrinks back from the all-important trans- 
actions, the august and tremendous ceremonial of this de- 
cisive day. Those, and only those, who have fought under the 
banner of Christ, the Captain of salvation, who have built their 
confidence on the Rock of ages, who have endured as seemg 
him who is invisible; while the children of iniquity are afraid, 
and fear fulness hath surprised the hypocrite, they shall look 
up with confidence to their Judge, their Father, and their 
friend. Let the sons of God, therefore, no longer hang down 
their heads. Let them lift up their hearts and rejoice, for the 
day of their redemption draweth nigh. Meditating on the glory 
and grandeur i? this final scene, said he, has often ravished my 
soul, and at this moment affords me more sublime pleasure and 
satisfaction, than all that this passing world can possibly 
afford." 

Mr Janeway at length found he was far gone in a consump- 
tion, with a copious spitting of blood, which indicated the ra- 
pidity of the disease; but these circumstances gave him no 
alarm, heaven was the port to which he was steering, the har- 
bour where he longed to drop his anchor. To him the world 



412 MEMOIR OF 

had lost all its attractions, his treasures were deposited in hea- 
ven, and there his heart and his affections were unalterably fix- 
ed. In the progress of his complaint he was seized with dim- 
ness in his eyes, and at last with a total want of sight; and be- 
ing in the daily expectation of his departure, he called on his 
mother, to whom he said, " Dear mother, I am dying; but, I 
beseech you, be not grieved. Through the tender mercies of 
God I am quite above the fear of death; and I have nothing 
that troubles me but the apprehension of your immoderate 
grief. I go to him whose love is better than life; moderate 
your sorrow, nor afflict yourself as one that has no hope." 

From this fainting fit, however, the Lord was pleased to re- 
lieve him; and for several weeks after, his soul was so devoutly 
engaged in the contemplation of the love of Christ, and the 
adoring exercises of heaven, that he forgot, in a great measure, 
his pains and indisposition. His faith, love, and joy, exceeding- 
ly abounding, he frequently exclaimed, " O that I could but 
express the joy and sweet satisfaction I find in Christ, you 
would then be constrained, all of you, to make religion the chief 
business of your whole lives. O my dear friends, you little 
know, you little imagine, what Christ is worth to a poor un- 
worthy and guilty sinner on his death-bed." 

A friend who visited Mr Jane way, observed that the Lord 
might yet restore him to health and usefulness in his church for a 
long time to come. " And do you think to please me with this ? 
(said he) — No, my friend, you are quite mistaken; the world 
has no pleasure in reserve for me. How poor and contemptible 
is it in all its glory ? How unsatisfying are all its enjoyments ? 
How precarious are its blessings, and how fallacious are all its 
promises and prospects, when contrasted with that world to 
which I am travelling, and already in sight of, and with the in- 
habitants of which I long to associate ? Dear mother, said he, 
I as earnestly request you, as ever I requested the throne of 
mercy in your behalf, that you will freely and cheerfully give 
me over to Christ. Why that desponding countenance, these 
untimely tears of sorrow ? I only go before you to that haven of 
rest to which you are directing your course; and can you think 
of detaining me, now that I am going to the complete and eter- 
nal possession of a kingdom that cannot be moved ? Would you 
keep me back from my crown ? The arms of my Saviour are 
ready to embrace me, the angels are in waiting to transport my 
soul to the New Jerusalem and the tree of life. Come, Lord 
Jesus, come quickly. O why are his chariots so long in com- 
ing ? Wherefore tarry the wheels of his chariots ?" As he ex- 
perienced the intermissions of these triumphant exultations, he 
cried out, « What ! wilt thou, canst thou, thus unworthily 



JOHN JANE WAY. 413 

slight this astonishing condescension of thy God ? Hold out, 
faith aud patience, yet a little longer, and your Work is finish- 
ed." One of his brothers having prayed with him, his joy be- 
came unutterable, he broke out in unbounded strains of heaven- 
ly rapture, " Stand still, and wonder, O my friends (said he). 
Was there ever a more sensible manifestation of rich and sov- 
reign grace ? Come, look on a dying man, and wonder. Why 
me, Lord ? Why me ? Surely this is a-kin to heaven ! Is 
this dying? If so, it is sweet, O it is sweet ! Christ's arms, his 
love, and the gracious smiles of his countenance, would change 
hell into heaven ! O that you could but see and feel what I 
now do ! Behold a dying man more cheerful than ever you 
have seen a man in the greatest health and worldly enjoyment. 
O, sirs, worldly pleasures are poor, pitiful, sorry things." 

Mr Jane way took his leave of his friends every night, ex- 
pecting to see them no more till the morning of the resurrec- 
tion, exhorting them always to make sure of a comfortable 
meeting in a better world. " O (said he) help me to praise 
God. Henceforth to eternity I shall have nothing to do but 
love, praise, and adore my God and Redeemer. I have had my 
soul's desire on earth. I know not what I could pray for, 
which I have not already received. The wants capable of be- 
ing supplied in this world have all been furnished me. I want 
only one thing more, and that is, a speedy lift to heaven. I ex- 
pect no more here, I desire no more, I can hold no more. He 
hath pardoned all my sins, he hath filled me with the joy of his 
salvation, he hath given me grace and glory, and no good thing 
has he withheld from me. All ye mighty angels, help, O help 
me to praise God. Let every thing that hath being assist me 
in this delightful exercise. Praise is my work now, and will 
be for ever. Hallelujah ! Hallelujah ! Hallelujah !" 

During his sickness, he found the word of God sweet and 
pleasant to his soul, more particularly the fourteenth, fifteenth, 
sixteenth, and seventeenth chapters of John's Gospel, and the 
fifty-fourth chapter of Isaiah, often repeating these words, 
With great mercy will I gather thee. A short time before his 
death, he said, " I have almost done with conversing among 
men;- I shall presently behold Christ himself, who loved me, 
and washed me from my sins in his own blood. In a few hours 
I shall join the innumerable company of angels, and the spirits 
of just men made perfect, and take part in their triumphant 
song — And who can help rejoicing in all this ?" The day be- 
fore his death, his brother James having prayed with him, he 
said, "Dear brother, I thank thee for thy love; I know thou 
lovest me; but Christ loves me infinitely more. Come, brother, 
kiss me before I die." Having kissed the clay-cold lips of the 



414 MEMOIR OF 

dying man, he said, " I go before thee to glory, and I hope thou 
wilt follow me, in due time, to that land of quietness and as- 
surance for ever." A few hours before his departure, he called 
together his mother, sisters, and brethren, to give them his last 
admonitions, and pray with them before he departed. His af- 
fectionate mother being first called, he thanked her for her love 
and tender concern for him, and desired her to labour to have 
Christ formed in the hearts of her children, that they might 
all meet together with joy at last in heaven. He prayed that 
his elder brother might be wholly taken up with Christ and the 
salvation of men; that he might be holy in his life, and success- 
ful in his ministry, and hold fast, that no man take from him 
his crown. For his brother Andrew, living in London, he 
prayed, " That God would deliver him from the sins of the 
city, and make him a fellow-citizen of the saints, and of the 
household of faith ; and, oh ! said he, that he may be, as his name 
imports, a strong man, and that I may one day meet him in 
heaven. Brother James, said he, I hope God hath given thee 
a goodly heritage, the lines have fallen to thee in pleasant 
places. The Lord is thy portion, hold on, dear brother, Christ 
and heaven are worth the contending for; and may the Lord 
give thee abundance of his grace." To his brother Abraham, 
he said, " May the blessing of the God of Abraham rest upon 
thee, and make thee the father of many spiritual children." 
To his brother Joseph, he said, " Let him bless thee, O Joseph, 
who blessed him that was separated from his brethren. My 
heart hath been long working towards thee, poor Joseph; and 
I am not without hopes that the everlasting arm will support 
thee. The God of thy Father bless thee." To his sister Mary, 
he said, " Poor Mary, thy body is weak, and thy life will be 
filled with bitterness. The Lord sweeten all with his grace 
and peace, and give thee health of soul. Be patient, secure an 
interest in the favour of God, and all shall yet be well. Sister 
Sarah, said he, thy body is healthful and vigorous, may thy 
soul also be healthful and active in the work and ways of the 
Lord; and O may he make thee a pattern of modesty and hu- 
mility, of holiness, charity, and all christian virtues." To his 
brother Jacob, he said, " The Lord make thee an Israelite in- 
deed, in whom is no guile. Mayest thou wrestle with God for 
a blessing, and prevail." And of his younger brother Benja- 
min, an infant, he said, " Poor little Benjamin, O that the Fa- 
ther of the fatherless would take care of thee; and as thou hast 
never seen thy father on earth, may you see him with joy in 
heaven. The Lord be thy father and 'portion." He then said 
to them all, " O that none of us may be found on the left hand 
of Christ, when he cometh the second time, without sin, unto 



JOHN JANEWAY. 415 

salvation. O that we may, all of us, appear with our honoured 
father and dear mother amongst the ransomed from the power 
of death, that they may he enabled to say, Lo, here are we, and 
the children thou hast graciously given us. And now, my dear 
mother, brethren, and sisters, farewell, I leave you a short 
time, and commend you to God and the word of his grace, 
which is able to build you up in holiness and comfort, and give 
you an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading. 
And now, Lord, my work on earth is finished; I have fought 
the good fight; I have run the race that was set before me; I 
have pressed toward the mark for the prize; and, O Lord, what 
wait I for, but thy call to take possession of the crown of right- 
eousness thou hast awarded to all who love thy second appear- 
ance. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly." Having thus ex- 
hausted what little strength remained, he spoke no more, but 
almost instantly expired, June 1657, and in the twenty- fourth 
year of his age. When the Memoir of this extraordinary young 
man was originally published, the authenticity of the narrative 
was attested by four eminent presbyterian divines. Wood de- 
nominates Mr Janeway a zealous presbyterian. His three bro- 
thers, William, James, and Abraham, were all non-conformists, 
and ejected in 1662. 



JOHN LANGLEY, A. M. 

This famous scholar was born near Banbury, Oxfordshire, 
and educated in Magdalen-hall, Oxford; afterwards a preben- 
dary of Gloucester, where he was about twenty years master of 
the college school. In 1640 he succeeded Dr. Gill as chief mas- 
ter of St. Paul's school, London. In both these situations se- 
veral of his pupils became very distinguished characters, both 
in church and state. Mr Richard Cumberland, afterwards 
bishop of Peterburgh, was one of that number. 

Mr Langley was a judicious divine, and an universal scholar, 
greatly celebrated for his antiquarian researches, in which he 
was indefatigable, and eminently successful. He was held in 
great estimation amongst men celebrated for literature; but 
overlooked by the clergy on account of his puritanical princi- 
ples, and especially because he was a witness against archbishop 
Laud, and in his deposition stated, that in the year 1616, his 
lordship, then dean of Gloucester, came down to the cathedral 
of that place, with the intention of turning the communion ta- 
ble into an altar, and to place it altar-ways at the east end of 
the choir, by removing it from its place in the middle of the 
church : That Dr. Smyth, bishop of Gloucester, opposed this 



416 MEMOIR OF JOHN LANGLEY. 

innovation, and warmly expostulated with the dean and the 
prebends, and protested, that if the communion table should be 
removed, or any such innovations introduced into the cathedral, 
as dean Laud then intended, he, for his part, should never again 
enter within its walls. But that, in direct opposition to the or- 
ders of the bishop, the dean was so violent, that he caused the 
Lord's table to be removed, and placed altar-ways, from north 
to south, at the east end of the choir, with popish furniture up- 
on it, bowftig towards it himself, and commanding the various 
officers of the church to do the same. And farther deposed, 
that the bishop was so much offended at these innovations, 
that, till the day of his death, he came no more into the cathe- 
dral. This is the substance of Mr Langley's evidence, all which 
was corroborated and confirmed by other witnesses. Being a 
most excellent scholar, Mr Langley was chosen one of the li- 
censers of the press for the philosophical and historical depart- 
ments. A minister of the same name was chosen for one of 
the assembly of divines; but, according to Wood, not the same 
person. Mr Langley died at his house, adjoining Paul's 
school, September 13th, 1657. Dr. Reynolds, afterwards 
bishop of Norwich, preached his funeral sermon; which was 
published. 

Fuller calls Mr Langley the religious schoolmaster. Arch- 
deacon Echard calls him an excellent theologist of the puritan 
stamp, a great linguist and historian, a nice and correct anti- 
quarian; for which he was held in great estimation by the fa* 
mous Selden, and other learned men. Mr Strype says, " He 
was a general scholar, and a celebrated antiquarian, especially 
in matters relating to his own country : That during his tra- 
vels, he was at much pains gathering up her traditions, explor- 
ing her curiosities, and examining her monuments of antiquity, 
of which he formed a considerable collection. His awful pre- 
sence, and commanding voice, produced uncommon fear and 
respect amongst his scholars; but he so managed matters, that 
they loved as well as feared him." His remains were interred 
in Mercers' chapel, Cheapside, with uncommon solemnity, when 
all his scholars attended; and as he died a single man, they 
walked before the corps from the school, through Cheapside, 
to Mercers' chapel, with white gloves, and hung with verses 
instead of escutcheons. Mr Langley was so much in favour 
with the worshipful company of Mercers, that they allowed him 
to recommend his successor. He was author of Totius Rhe- 
torical Adumbratio in usum Scholar Paulinse— An introduction 
to Grammar, and some other works. 



417 



THOMAS CAWTON. 

This excellent divine was born at Rainham in Norfolk, in 
1605, and educated in Queen's college, Cambridge. From a 
child he was thoughtful and serious, and anxious to learn, that 
he might become a minister ; and being a boy of great promise, 
Sir Roger Townsend patronised and supported him at college, 
where he made uncommon progress in the arts, the languages, 
and also in divinity. In the meantime, his piety was such, that 
it became a proverb amongst the students, the less serious of 
whom stigmatized those who were religiously inclined as being 
Cawtonists. Having continued seven years at the university, 
he removed to Ashwell, about twelve miles from Cambridge, 
to live in the house of Mr Herbert Palmer, another puritan di- 
vine, for the purpose of studying divinity; in which he made great 
proficiency, and occasionally assisted Mr Palmer in his pulpit 
exercises. On leaving Mr Palmer's, he became domestic chap- 
lain to Sir William Armin of Orton in Northamptonshire; 
where his piety and holy life, together with his great abilities 
and faithful labours, gained general love and respect. Hav- 
ing continued in this situation four years, he became rector of 
Wivenhoe in Essex, having been presented to the living by Sir 
Roger Townsend. Wivenhoe, at this time, was notorious for 
drunkenness, swearing, sabbath-profanation, and almost every 
vice; but his faithful labours, and exemplary life, accompanied 
by the divine blessing, were the means of working an astonish- 
ing reformation. The people were in the habit of bringing their 
fish to market, and selling them on the Lord's day, hard by 
the church doors, which sorely grieved his righteous soul; but 
by his faithful and unwearied endeavours, this abominable prac- 
tice was abolished, and a happy reformation of manners took 
place in the town and neighbourhood; and, it is added, that he 
was made instrumental in bringing great numbers to the saving 
knowledge of the gospel. He was married to the daughter of 
Mr William Jenkin, an ejected minister for n on -conformity. 

Mr Cawton having prosecuted his ministerial labours in this 
place about seven years, his health began to fall off; so that it 
was considered necessary for him to remove to some other si- 
tuation for the benefit of a change of air: and receiving, about 
the same time, an invitation to Bartholomew's church, behind 
the exchange, London, he removed thither; and this change was 
the means of restoring his health, and preventing the return of 
the ague, with which he had been long and seriously afflicted. 
In 1648 he united with the London ministers in their declara- 
tion against the king's death: and, the same year, was brought 

15 3 a 



418 MEMOIR OF 

to trouble for his zeal in the royal cause. Being invited by the 
lord mayor and aldermen to preach at Mercer's chapel, he 
prayed for the royal family, especially for Charles the II. whom 
he considered as the legal sovereign; but delivered nothing of- 
fensive in his sermon. His prayer, however, was offensive to 
the ruling party. Accordingly, the day following, the council 
of state issued a warrant to apprehend him. When Mr Caw- 
ton appeared before his judges, he was charged with having 
proclaimed the young king; by which, according to the existing 
laws, he was guilty of high treason. He was therefore requir- 
ed to retract what he had said on this point, as the indispensa- 
ble condition of his pardon. This Mr Cawton refused to do. 
" If (said he) I can be made sensible of having done or said any 
thing unbecoming a minister of the gospel, I am ready to re- 
cant; but I have heard no satisfactory reason assigned." He 
was therefore sent prisoner to the Gatehouse, where he remain- 
ed in confinement about six months; when the parliament's ar- 
my in Ireland having gained a signal victory, the House came to 
the resolution, that a certain number of prisoners, and Mr Caw- 
ton amongst that number, should be set at liberty, as a testi- 
mony of their gratitude to God; by which means he obtained 
his liberty, and returned to his family and flock, where he con- 
tinued, for some time, in the exercise of his ministerial office. 
But being deeply concerned in Love's plot, he fled to Holland, 
together with Mr James Nalton, in 1651. On their arrival at 
Amsterdam, the English church, at that place, being destitute 
of a minister, they were both chosen collegiate pastors to the 
society. Mr Nalton afterwards was permitted to return to his 
native country; which he did : but Mr Cawton, not being fa- 
voured with this privilege, remained at Amsterdam till the day 
of his death. His fame, as a preacher and scholar, was soon 
spread through the United Provinces, where he shone as a star 
of the first magnitude, and he was held in high estimation by 
the Dutch, French, and English ministers in those parts. He 
became intimately acquainted with the most distinguished lite- 
rary characters, Vcetius, Leusden, Uchtman, Hulsius, and ma- 
ny others. The publication of Walton's Polyglot Bihle, and 
Castell's Lexicon Heptagloton, was much forwarded both by 
his exertions and recommendation *. In 1658 he received a 
letter from Charles II., then at Brussels, in which his majesty 
attempts to acquit himself of the charge of being at all inclined 

* The former of these learned works was printed in six folio volumes, and was the 
first book published by subscription in England. The latter cost the author the la- 
bour of seventeen years; by which bis health was impaired, his constitution greatly 
shattei-ed, and his fortune entirely ruined. It cost him upwards of twelve thousand 
pounds ; for which, and his herculean labours, he had a poor remuneration.— See Life 
of Caivton, page 42—66. 



THOMAS CAWTON. 419 

to popery, and urges Mr Cawton, by all possible means, to re- 
move such false and unworthy aspersions. 

Thus having served the Lord seven years at Cambridge, seven 
years at Wivenhoe, seven years at London, and seven more in 
Holland, Mr Cawton died at Rotterdam, of a fit of the palsy, 
August 7th, 1659, and fifty-fourth year of his age. He was a 
laborious student, an excellent logician, and an incomparable 
linguist. He possessed a most accurate knowledge of the He- 
brew, Greek, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic languages, and was 
familiar with the Dutch, Saxon, Italian, Spanish, and French. 
But that which set forth his talents and literary acquisitions to 
the greatest advantage, was his eminent piety and holy life, his 
faith, patience, and sincerity, his self-denial, and charitable hos- 
pitality. As a minister, a master, a husband, a father, he was 
highly exemplary; an honour to his profession, and a pattern of 
virtue in every social relation. Wood, even Wood allows him 
to have been a learned and religious puritan. Mr Thomas 
Cawton, one of the ejected non-conformists of 1662, was his 
son, who trod in his father's footsteps, and published his life in 
1662, together with the sermon preached by his father at Mer- 
cer's chapel, February 25th, 1648, entitled, God's rule for a 
Godly life, or a Gospel Conversation, opened and applied from 
Phil.'i. 27. 



WILLIAM AMES. 

This learned divine was born in the county of Norfolk, in 
the year 1576, and educated in Christ college, Cambridge, un- 
der the famous Mr William Perkins. Having received the 
truth of the gospel, he became zealous in its defence, avowing 
his decided opposition to every kind of error and iniquity, but 
most especially against the delusive doctrines, the idolatrous 
ceremonies, and wide-spread corruptions of the church of Rome. 
About the year 1610, having been for some time fellow of his 
college, he preached a sermon at St. Mary's church, in which 
he severely reprehended the idle practice of playing at cards 
and dice. This gave great offence to many of his hearers, and 
the more especially, because he was well known to be inimical 
to the ceremonies of the church. Mr Ames, observing that 
the storm was gathering around him, found it necessary to quit 
the university, in order to prevent his expulsion. Previous to 
his departure, he was called before Dr Carey, master of the 
college, who urged him to wear the surplice; and that he might 
convince his understanding, and bring him to a compliance, he 
quoted the words of the Apostle—'* Put on the armour of light; 5 '' 



420 MEMOIR OF 

that is, said the doctor, the white surplice! But this very 
learned argument carried no conviction to the mind of the young 
man, who had resolved that no earthly consideration whatever 
should induce him to defile his conscience by such sinful com- 
pliance. He therefore resigned his fellowship, forsook the uni- 
versity, and soon after this, to escape the indignation of arch- 
bishop Boncraft, found it requisite to leave the kingdom. He 
sailed for Holland, and, on his arrival, was chosen minister of 
the English church at the Hague. But there, in a foreign 
country, under the wings of the Dutch government, even there 
the inveterate resentment of the prelates pursued him. He 
was but a short time comfortably settled at the Hague, when 
Abbot Boncraft's successor, that he might not be outdone by 
the severity of his predecessor, wrote to Sir Ralph Winwood, 
the English ambassador at the court of the Stadtholder, urging 
him, by all means, to procure his removal. Abbot's letter, 
dated March 12th, 1612, concludes by saying, "I wish the re- 
moval of him to be as privately and as cleanly carried as the 
matter will permit. We are also acquainted what English 
preachers are entertained in Zealand ; and whereunto, in conveni- 
ent time, we hope to give a redress." Hard indeed was the lot 
of the non-conformists under these intolerant churchmen, and 
Mr Ames had his share shaken down, and running over; nor 
did Abbot's resentment end here. When he was on the point 
of being chosen divinity professor at Leyden, his election was 
prevented by means of the archbishop, and by the interference 
of the ambassador; and so long as Mr Ames had any prospect 
in view, he was never satisfied till his purposes were defeated, 
and his hopes destroyed. Accordingly, the same unworthy 
manceuvers were attempted^ when he was chosen, by the states 
of Friesland, to the above office in the university at Franeker; 
but happily without success; for in spite of the malice, and even 
the madness of his persecutors, Dr. Ames filled the divinity 
chair, with universal approbation, for the space of twelve years. 
He attended at the synod of Dort, and, from time to time, re- 
ported the debates of that venerable assembly to king James 5 
ambassador at the Hague. Dr. Ames was famous for his con- 
troversial writings, especially against the Arminians, Bellar- 
mine, and the English ceremonies; which, in point of concise- 
ness and perspicuity, were unequalled by any of his time. But 
his health was on the decline; he had great difficulty in breath- 
ing, so that he expected every winter would be his last. The 
air of Franeker he began to consider too sharp for his constitu- 
tion; and being, at the same time, desirous to preach the gos- 
pel to his countrymen, he accepted an invitation to the English 
church at Rotterdam, and resigned his professorship. 



WILLIAM AMES. 421 

Upon this change of situation, Dr. Ames wrote his Fresh 
Suit against Ceremonies; a work of distinguished merit, which 
greatly enhanced the reputation of its author for talents and 
erudition. In the preface of this work, he states the contro- 
versy thus: "We hold the institutions of Christ to be, in 
every respect, sufficient for all the purposes of divine worship; 
and that the word of God is the alone standard in matters of 
religion. The prelates, on the other hand, would have us allow 
and practise certain human contrivances, rites, and ceremonies 
in christian worship. We therefore desire to be excused, hold- 
ing them unlawful. Christ we know, and are ready to em- 
brace every thing that cometh from him. But these ceremo- 
nies in divine worship we know not, and cannot receive; and, 
says he, I am now more than ever persuaded, that such relics 
of popery, and monuments of superstition, never did any good, 
but incalculable evil." He did not live, however, to publish it 
himself; but his editor says concerning him, that in this valu- 
able work Dr. Ames pleads the cause of truth, both succinctly 
and perspicuously, as indeed he does most admirably in all his 
writings. His works manifest him to have been a lamp of 
learning and arts, a pattern of holiness, and a champion for the 
truth. 

Dr. Ames did not long survive his removal to Rotterdam. 
His constitution had already been greatly undermined. He 
found the air of that place of no real advantage, and determin- 
ed to remove to New England; but his asthma returning, put 
an end to his life at Rotterdam, where he was buried, Novem- 
ber 14th, 1633, aged fifty-seven years. In the following spring 
his wife and children embarked for New England, carrying along 
with them his valuable library, which, at that period, was a no- 
ble acquisition to the colony. His son William, returning to 
England afterwards, was one of tht>ejected ministers of 1662. 
"Dr Ames (says Granger) filled the divinity chair with admir- 
able ability; so great was his fame, that numbers, from remote 
nations, put themselves under his tuition; but he was much bet- 
ter known abroad than even in his native country. He was a 
solid, learned, and judicious divine. In doctrine a strict Cal- 
vinist. In matters of discipline and church-government, an In- 
dependent." Mr Mather styles him the profound, sublime, ir- 
refragable, and angelical doctor, and doubts whether he left his 
equal on earth. Fuller has classed him amongst the learned 
writers and fellows of Christ-college, Cambridge. He seldom 
preached without shedding tears; and, on his death-bed, had 
wonderful foretastes of heaven. 

Speaking of Dr. Ames as a writer, particularly on the moral 
science, the learned Mosheim says, " That by a worthy and 



422 MEMOIR OF 

pious spirit of emulation, he was excited to compose a complete 
body of christian morality. He says he was a native of Scot- 
land, and that he was the first among the reformers that began 
to treat morality as a distinct science, to consider it abstract- 
edly from its connection with any particular system of doctrine, 
and to introduce new light, and a new degree of accuracy, into 
this master-science of life and manners. The attempt, says he, 
was laudable, had it been well executed; but the system of this 
learned writer was dry, theoretical, and subtile, much more 
adapted to the instruction of students, than the practical direc- 
tion of private christians. 



RICHARD SIBBS. 

This most worthy divine was born at Sudbury in Suffolk, 
in 1577, and educated in St. John's college, Cambridge, where 
his learning and amiable deportment soon procured him pro- 
motion. He took his several degrees with great applause, and 
was first chosen scholar, then fellow of his college. While his 
literary fame was thus rapidly progressing, it pleased God to 
awaken him to a sense of his sins, and bring him to the know- 
ledge of Christ, the Saviour of sinners, by the preaching of Mr 
Paul Baynes, then lecturer at St. Andrew's church. Having 
discovered the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and obtained mercy, 
he resolved to devote himself to Christ in the work of the gos- 
pel, and was soon after chosen lecturer at Trinity church. 
Here his preaching was numerously attended, both by scholars 
and townsmen, and became instrumental in the conversion, edi- 
fication, and establishment of many. He appears to have been 
vicar of said church during the two last years of his life only, 
Mr (afterwards Dr.) Gooieman having resigned in his favour. 
His fame having gone abroad, and reached the metropolis, he 
was chosen preacher at Gray's Inn, London, in 1618, where he 
became remarkably popular and useful. Besides the learned 
lawyers, many of the nobility, as well as the gentry and citi- 
zens, flocked to hear him, and many had abundant cause to 
bless God for the benefit they derived from his ministry. He 
continued in this situation to the end of his days. Dr. William 
Gouge, who some times heard him, says " He had a little 
stammering in his speech in the time of his preaching; but his 
judicious hearers always expected some rare notions from him." 
About the year 1652 he was chosen master of Katherinc- 
hall, Cambridge; which place, though a puritan, he was ena- 
bled to keep till his death. He was charged, however, with 
the sin of non-conformity before the high commission, and de- 



RICHARD SIBBS. 423 

pvived of his fellowship and lecture. His matchless erudition, 
his piety and usefulness, were no security against the intoler- 
ant rage of the times. On his entrance as master of Katherine- 
hall, he found the society in a very declining state. Through 
his great influence, and strenuous exertions, however, it was 
soon restored, and even greatly enlarged, filled with learned 
and religious fellows, and became famous for genuine piety and 
solid learning. Some short time after this, Dr. Sibbs was cho- 
sen one of the feoffees for buying impropriations; for which, 
at the instigation of Laud, he was prosecuted in the star-cham- 
ber, together with all those concerned with him in this gener- 
ous undertaking. But the prosecution was so notoriously in- 
vidious, that it was afterwards relinquished, to the no small 
disgrace of the bishop, who was the sole instigator and promot- 
er of this persecution. He was again convened before the high 
commission as a notorious delinquent, only for promoting a 
private subscription for the relief of the poor and suffering mi- 
nisters of the Palatinate; the result of which we have not been 
able to learn. 

Dr. Sibbs was a dutiful pastor of the flock committed to his 
care. His great concern was, during the whole course of his 
ministry, to lay a good foundation, both in the heads and hearts 
of his hearers. Among people of understanding and piety, he 
chiefly preached on the fundamental doctrines of the gospel, 
and particularly on the incarnation of the Son of God. He la- 
boured so much on this divine subject, that there can scarcelv 
be one benefit arising therefrom, or one holy affection it is cal- 
culated to excite, which he has not sweetly unfolded in these 
.sermons, and applied to the various cases of his hearers. His 
thoughts and his discourses were so much directed to, and con- 
versant about, the sufferings of Christ, and his state of humili- 
ation, that it seemed to produce, in his own soul, the deepest 
reverence and humility, both before God and men. He great- 
ly excelled in his knowledge of the holy scriptures, was a faith- 
ful steward of the manifold grace of God, and accounted one 
of the best preachers of his time; and though a staunch non- 
conformist, he was of so meek and peaceable a spirit, that he 
was ever careful not to give offence, where it could, consistent 
with a good conscience, by any means be avoided. A burning 
and a shining light, who cheerfully spent himself for the edifi- 
cation and spiritual advantage of others; nor were the temporal 
necessities of the poor of the flock of Christ overlooked. His 
purse, on all occasions, was open to their bodily wants; and his 
very soul commiserated their spiritual indigence. During the 
summer season he used to visit many of the wealthy families in 
his neighbourhood, with whom he was always projecting plans 



424 MEMOIR OF 

for the relief of the poor, and other useful purposes. He was 
beloved and highly respected by men of real worth, and inti- 
mate with many persons of distinguished eminence, among 
whom was the celebrated .archbishop Usher, whom he frequent- 
ly visited in London. He died on the 5th July 1635, aged 
fifty-seven years. He was a grave and solid divine, famous for 
learning, piety, and politeness. 

His last will and testament breathes the spirit of genuine 
piety and generosity. Therein he first bequeathes his soul to 
his gracious Saviour, who redeemed it with his precious blood, 
and now appears in heaven to receive it to himself. Then he 
gives grateful and hearty thanks to God for having vouchsafed 
him to live in the blessed times of the gospel, and granted him 
an interest in, and a participation of, its manifold comforts, and 
honoured him to publish it with some degree of faithfulness. 
He ordered his body to be buried according to the pleasure of 
his executors, and bequeathed his real and personal estates to 
his only brother, and other near relations, with numerous lega- 
cies to his friends and connections. The peaceable disposition 
of this holy man will partly appear from the following anecdote : 
A fellowship being vacant at Magdalen college, archbishop 
Laud recommended his bell-ringer at Lambeth for the place, 
with the obvious design of quarrelling with the fellows if they 
refused, or placing a spy over them if they accepted. Dr. 
Sibbs, who was ever unwilling to provoke his superiors, told 
the fellows that Lambeth-house would be obeyed; and as the 
person was young, he might in time prove hopeful. To which 
view the fellows assenting, he was, without further objection, 
admitted. 

Dr. Sibbs has also rendered his name famous, among the 
friends of evangelical religion, by his numerous and excellent 
publications. His works breathe the warmest strains of piety 
and devotion, and will transmit his honoured memorial to the 
latest posterity. In his Bruised Reed, he says, " When strug- 
gling against the corruptions of our own hearts, buffeted by 
temptations, and mourning over the weakness of our faith, and 
the coldness of our love, let us still remember, that Christ will 
not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. As 
Captain of our salvation, he combats and conquers our rebelli- 
ous inclinations, as well as our outward and spiritual adver- 
saries, and hath furnished us with the shield of faith, where- 
withal to defend ourselves, and enable us to repel the fiery 
darts of the devil. Satan, however, will sometimes endeavour 
to persuade us,, that we have no faith, that we are destitute of 
love to Christ, that we are great sinners, and that the mercy of 
God, and the love and compassion of Christ, are blessings we 



RICHARD SIBBS. 425 

have for ever forfeited. To all these suggestions of the enemy 
of mankind, we are warranted and encouraged to reply : That 
albeit we are great sinners, Christ is an almighty Saviour; 
and though our faith be weak, and our love cold, Christ will 
not quench the smoking flax, but fan it into a flame that shall 
never be extinguished. Abimelech could not endure the 
thought, that it should be said concerning him, after his death, 
that he died by the hands of a woman; and how mortifying must 
it be to satan, to find that all his arts have been unavailing, his 
threatenings vain, and his power inadequate to the task of ex- 
tinguishing an almost imperceptible spark. To find that the 
soul, influenced by the grace of God, stands secure as an im- 
pregnable fortress: that the wiles of satan cannot sap the 
foundation, nor all the artillery of hell batter down the walls of 
her defence; and that a weak child, a silly woman, or a decrepit 
old man, should, by the exercise of faith, force all his vete- 
ran legions to a shameful and precipitant retreat. Let us there- 
fore rejoice in the promise — 'My grace is sufficient for you ;' 
and let the assurance, of an ultimate triumph, invigorate our re- 
solution to fight the good fight, and lay hold on eternal life. 
For though the warfare be arduous, if we strive, Christ will 
help us. If we faint, he will cherish, animate, and support us. 
If we follow the directions of our Leader, we shall assuredly 
overcome; and, overcoming, the crown of unfading glory awaits 
our reception. 

" It is with the true church of Christ, as with its individual 
members, dangers are without, and fears within. We see her 
present forlorn condition. She is like Daniel in the lion's den; 
like a lily amongst thorns; or as a ship tossed on the tempes- 
tuous ocean, the waves passing over her. A strong conspiracy 
has been raised against her, the spirit of antichrist is now 
lifted up, and though we cannot see what is a-doing, and what 
will be the end of these dark dispensations, let us comfort our- 
selves with the consideration, that Christ lives, that our Re- 
deemer reigns, that he is the shield of her salvation, and though 
states and kingdoms should dash one another to pieces, he will 
take care of his own church, and all her members. When 
Christ and his church are apparently at the lowest, then are 
they nearest the rising. The wicked are not so; but when at 
the height of their power and presumption, they stand on the 
brink of a fearful precipice, whence they shall experience a ter- 
rible downfall. 

" The course of the gospel, like that of the sun., has hereto- 
fore been from east to west. The occurrences of our time in- 
dicate, that its progress still continues in the same direction, 
and the enemies of Christ and his church might as well at- 

16 3 h 



426 MEMOIR OF 

tempt to arrest the sun, repel the rising tides, or bind up the 
winds of heaven, as overcome the power, and prevent the pro- 
gress of divine truth; which, in despite of every opposition, will 
yet force its way into the remotest corners of the world, till all 
the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God; till 
Christ shall have brought his whole church under one shep- 
herd, and into one sheepfold, when he will present them to 
his Father, without spot or blemish, saying, < Lo, these are the 
children thou hast given me, they have taken me for their lead- 
er, they fought under my banner, they have suffered in my 
cause — I will therefore that they likewise reign with me, and 
that where I am, there they may be also.' " 

Mr John Dod, having perused the manuscript of his ser- 
mons on Canticles, chap, v., says, " I judge it altogether im- 
proper to conceal, from the public eye, the precious matter 
comprised in these sermons. I consider them excellent helps 
to the understanding of that dark and divine scripture, as well 
as to warm the heart with all heavenly affections toward Jesus 
Christ. The whole is composed with so much wisdom, piety, 
judgment, and experience, that the work commends itself to all 
who are wise for their own souls; and I doubt not but they will 
find their understanding enlightened, their temptations answer- 
ed, their fainting spirits revived, their graces confirmed, and 
will have cause to bless God for the author's godly and painful 
labours." 

His works are, 1. The Bruised Reed. — 2. The Saint's Safety 
in Evil Times. — 3. The Church's Visitation. — 4. The Fountain 
Sealed. — 5. Divine Meditations. — 6. Emanuel, God with us.— 
7. Light from Heaven. — 8. Spiritual Jubilee. — 9. Yea and 
Amen. — 10. The Spiritual Man's Aim, and the Christian's 
Portion and Charter. — 11. The Returning Backslider. — 12, 
The Hidden Life.— 13. Beams of Divine Light.— 14. The Ex- 
cellence of the Gospel above the Law. — 15^ Christ Exalted.— 
16. Evangelical Sacrifices.— 17. Union bettjixt Christ and his 
Church. — 18. Commentary on Phil. chap. iri. — 19. The Glo- 
rious Feast of the Gospel. — 20. A Commentary on 2 Cor. 
chap. i. — 21. An Exposition of 2 Cor. chap. iv. — 22. The 
Soul's Conflict.— 23. The Saint's Cordial.— 24, Christ's Con- 
ference with Mary. — 25. The Key of Heaven, or the Lord's 
Prayer Opened. — 26. Sermons on Canticles, phap. v. 



ALEXANDER LEIGHTON, D. D. 

This unparalleled sufferer in the cause of non-conformity 
was born in Scotland, about 1568, and most probably had his 



ALEXANDER LEIGHTON. 427 

education at some of the Scotch universities. He took his de- 
gree of doctor of divinity both at the university of St. iindrew's 
and Leyden. Granger says, incorrectly, "That he was not 
doctor of divinity, but of physic, though exercising the minis- 
try." Sir Ellis Leighton, and the eminently pious archbishop 
Leighton, of whom bishop Burnet gives an excellent character, 
and whose works are still held in great reputation, were his 
sons. 

This reverend divine was reputed for his ability, learning, 
and piety; but his zeal against episcopacy exposed him to the 
rigour of prelatical vengeance. He published a book, entitled, 
An Appeal to Parliament; or Zion's Plea against Prelacy; for 
which he met with unprecedented cruelty from the star-cham- 
ber. In this work he expressed his sentiments against the hie- 
rarchy, and the proceedings of the ruling prelates, with too 
much warmth for the period in which it was wrote. In which 
book, some of our historians say, " He excited the parliament 
to kill all the bishops, by smiting them under the fifth rib; and 
that he bitterly inveighed against the queen, calling her the 
daughter of Heth, a Canaanite, and an idolatress." " The truth 
(says Mr Peirce) is this : That after having enumerated many 
grievances, cruel inflictions, and fearful forebodings, occasioned 
by the episcopal establishment, and her prelatical procedure, he 
admonished the parliament utterly to root out the hierarchy, 
that the nation might be freed from the apprehension of any 
further danger." But that he excited them to kill the bishops, 
whether guilty or not of death-deserving crimes, I can nowhere 
find in his book; but, on the contrary, find, towards the end of 
the work, the following explication of his own words : " To 
make an end (says he) of our present subject, we wish your 
honours could prevail with the bishops, by fair means, to throw 
off their overcharging calling. If they will not be thus per- 
suaded, we fear they are like pluretic patients, who cannot spit, 
and whom nothing but incision can cure. We mean of their 
callings, not their persons, with whom we have no quarrel, but 
wish them better than they wish either us or themselves. One 
of their desperado mountebanks declared, from the pulpit, that 
they could find no cure for us, their supposed enemies, but 
pricking in the bladder; but we have not so learned Christ." 
Moreover, in the charges brought against him in the star-cham- 
ber, there was no such thing mentioned; which, had it been 
found in his book, would assuredly have been brought forward. 
What degree of credit is due to men who thus represent the 
sense of an author contrary to his own express words, and 
what is their design by such misrepresentations, needs no com- 
ment. His calling the queen the daughter of Heth, a Canaan- 



428 MEMOIR OF 

ite, and an idolatress, though unpleasant, and even unbecoming 
epithets as applied to the queen, had no other meaning but 
that she was a papist; while, in fact, she really was not only a 
notorious, but a bitter one. Archbishop Tillotson, long after 
this, used language, with respect to the marriage of foreign 
popish princes with our own, but very little more refined than 
those of Dr. Leighton, without giving the least offence. The 
worthy prelate styles them the people of these abominations; 
and that it was owing to these marriages, that, for two or three 
generations, popery had been so much countenanced in the 
country. 

Though Leighton's book was written in spirit and expression 
too warm for the time, Dr. Harris, who had particularly exam- 
ined the work, says, " It was written with spirit, and also with 
more sense and learning than writers of that stamp were in the 
habit of using at the time." But the reader will be better ena- 
bled to judge from the following circumstantial account, col- 
lected from the most authentic records. 

On February 29th, 1629, Dr. Leighton, coming out of Black- 
friars, was seized by a warrant from the high commission court, 
and dragged by a multitude of armed men to bishop Laud's 
house; from which, without being examined, he was carried to 
Newgate, where, after being loaded with irons, he was clapped 
iuto a loathsome dog-hole, swarming with rats and mice; where 
the roof, being uncovered, the rain and snow beat in upon him. 
He had no bedding, nor place to make a fibre, save the ruins of 
an old smoky chimney; nor had he any thing either to eat or 
drink from the Tuesday night till Thursday at noon. In this 
loathsome abode he continued fifteen weeks, while none of his 
friends, nor even his wife, were permitted to see him, nor a 
copy of the warrant for commitment allowed him. On the 
fourth day after his apprehension, the pursuivants, belonging 
to the high commission, went to his house, and laid violent 
hands on his distressed wife, and treated her with the most dis- 
graceful and shameless barbarity. To a child of five years of 
age they presented a pistol, threatening to kill him if he would 
not inform them where the books lay; which so terrified the 
child, that he never recovered; and notwithstanding that Mrs 
Leighton was willing to open every thing before them, they 
broke up chests, presses, boxes, and whatever came in their way, 
and carried away every thing they wished to possess, books, 
manuscripts, apparel, household stuff, &c. 

During his confinement in Newgate, it was the opinion of 
four physicians, that poison had been administered to him, as 
his hair and skin came off; and while in this deplorable condi- 
tion, his sentence was pronounced in the star-chamber, without 



ALEXANDER LEIGHTON. 429 

hearing one word in his defence, notwithstanding that a certifi- 
cate, signed by four physicians and an attorney, stated the 
dreadful nature of his complaint, and the impossibility of his 
attendance. 

But it will be necessary here to state the charges brought 
against this unhappy man. June 4th, 1630, an information 
was exhibited against Dr. Leighton, in the star-chamber, by 
Attorney General Heath, wherein he was charged with having 
published and dispersed a scandalous book against the king, 
peers, and prelates, entitled, Sion's Plea against Prelacy; in 
which, amongst other things, he sets forth these false and sedi- 
tious assertions and positions: 1. That we do not read of 
greater persecution, or higher indignity being done to God's 
people, in any nation professing the gospel, than has been exer- 
cised against them in this our own island, especially since the 
death of Queen Elizabeth. 2. That he terms the prelates of 
this realm men of blood, and enemies to God and the state : 
That the maintaining and establishing of bishops in this realm, 
is a main and master sin established by law : That ministers 
ought to have no voice in council, deliberative and decisive. 
3. That he avows the prelacy of our church to be antichristian 
and satanical, and terms the bishops ravens and mag-pies that 
prey upon the state; and terms the canons, made in 1603, non- 
sense canons. 4. He disallows and contemns kneeling in re- 
ceiving the sacrament; and alleges, that this spawn of the beast 
was brought forth by the prelates, to promote and perpetuate 
their own unlawful standing. 5. He affirms that the prelates 
have corrupted the king, forestalling his judgment against God 
and goodness, and most audaciously calleth his majesty's royal 
consort, our gracious queen, the daughter of Heth. 7. He 
most impiously seems to commend him who committed the bar- 
barous and bloody act of murder on the late duke of Buckingham, 
and to encourage others to second him in like atrocious, wick- 
ed, and desperate attempts to destroy others. 8. He lays a 
most seditious scandal upon the king, state, and kingdom, wick- 
edly affirming, that all who pass by us spoil us, and that we, 
in our turn, spoil all who rely upon us; instancing, amongst 
other things, the black pining death of the famished Rochellers, 
who died to the amount of fifteen hundred in the space of four 
months. By which passages, and wicked assertions, he does 
every thing in his power to scandalize his majesty's sacred per- 
son, his religious, wise, and just government, the person of his 
royal consort the queen, the persons of the lords and peers of 
the realm, and especially the reverend bishops. 9. That he not 
only endeavours to slander his majesty's sacred person and 
government, but even to detract from his royal power, in mak- 



430 MEMOIR OF 

ing laws and canons for ecclesiastical government, by affirming, 
that the church hath all her laws from the scripture, and that 
no king has power to legislate for the church; for, if they had, 
the scriptures must be imperfect. And, lastly, thinking to 
salve all with the expression of his sacred majesty, he says, 
what a pity it is, and what indelible dishonour it will be to you, 
the representatives of the people, that so ingenious and tracta- 
ble a king should be so monstrously abused, to the undoing of 
himself and his subjects. 

These ten charges contain all that was brought against Dr. 
Leighton; and we have no reason to think they were not the 
worst that could be found in his book. The reader will here 
perceive the worst part of his character, and will easily appre- 
ciate what degree of criminality is attached to his publication. 
Though some of these assertions are certainly imprudent, they 
are, nevertheless, true, and too glaringly manifest, in the his- 
tory of the country, to be refuted, even at this distance of time. 
Dr. Leighton, in his answer to the above charges, acknowledged, 
that while the parliament was sitting, in 1628, he drew up the 
heads of his book, and with the approbation of five hundred 
persons, under their own hands, some of whom were members 
of parliament, he went over to Holland to get it printed. That 
he printed five or six hundred copies only, for the use of the 
parliament, but they being dissolved before the work was finish- 
ed, he returned home without bringing any of them into the 
country. He acknowledged writing the book, but with no such 
intentions as suggested in the information. His only design 
was to remonstrate against certain grievances in church and 
state, under which the people were suffering, in order to induce 
the parliament to take them into their serious consideration, 
and give such redress as seemed most for the honour of the 
king, the advantage of the people, and the good of the church. 

When the cause came to be heard, the charges against him 
were read from his own book, and his answers were also read 
at length. In answer to the first charge, viz. That we do not 
read of greater persecution, or higher indignity done to God's 
people, in any nation professing the gospel, than in this our own 
island, especially since the death of Queen Elizabeth. He ac- 
knowledged the words in his answer, but asserted that the 
thing was so notoriously true, that he was astonished how it 
could be brought up against him as a crime; a fact so glaringly 
obvious, that no sophistry could palliate or conceal; a stain on 
the country so deep, that all the waters of the ocean could not 
wash it off. Where, my lords, will you find a nation, profess- 
ing the christian religion, where the people have suffered so 
much cruelty, oppression, and indignity, from the ministers of 



ALEXANDER LE1GHT0N. 431 

religion, as the non-conforming ministers and people of Eng- 
land have suffered from prelatical power and intolerance ? If 
you turn your eyes to the nations of the continent, in hopes of 
finding a parallel of English folly and bigotry, you will look in 
vain. There, indeed, you may find thousands of our most vir- 
tuous, loyal, and industrious countrymen, who have been re- 
ceived with generous hospitality, pitied, protected, and their 
virtues appreciated, by strangers, whom the rigour of prelatical 
oppression had driven from their occupations, their friends, and 
the land that gave them birth. If you cast your eyes across 
the Atlantic, there also you may behold additional demonstra- 
tions of prelatical cruelty. Thousands who, to save themselves 
from their unendurable oppression, have braved the dangers of 
the ocean in search of a place of rest and security, even amongst 
savages and wild beasts, in the waste and howling wilderness. 
On finding themselves beyond the vindictive arm of prelatical 
intolerance, hear them, like the Israelites when they found 
themselves rescued from the fury of their Egyptian task-masters 
and pursuers, hear them hymning the God of their salvation in 
acclamations of joy and praise, and sending their prayers up to 
the throne of mercy for the weeping friends and suffering coun- 
trymen they had left behind them. But why travel so far in 
search of proof to support a fact so incontrovertible ? Look 
at home. Have not the prelates shed the blood of a number of 
faithful ministers of the gospel? Have not the jails of the 
country been filled, and the dungeons inhabited by the very 
men who laboured the most to promote the best interest of the 
country, and who have set examples of piety and morality be- 
fore its inhabitants ? How many of these meritorious individu- 
als have been silenced, deprived of their livings, and themselves 
and families left desolate and destitute; while their flocks, starv- 
ing for want of the bread of life, had none to break it ? In this 
critical situation, when met together to worship God in secret 
places, that they might avoid giving offence to their superiors, 
how often have whole congregations been dragged to prisons 
and dungeons? And for what mighty purpose was all this 
waste of blood, this exercise of relentless cruelty and power, 
unknown to the constitutional laws of the country ? Not sure- 
ly to quell a rebellion, for the people are loyal ? No — but to 
promote and perpetuate prelatical power, at the expence of all 
the other orders in the state. My lords, the strength and glory 
of a nation must ever consist in the number and virtue of its in- 
habitants; and its wealth and prosperity most assuredly depend 
on their industry : But the prelates, by scattering her popula- 
tion, have diminished the strength of their country. By silenc- 
ing her preachers, they have demoralized her population, and 



432 MEMOIR OF 

tarnished her glory; and hy persecuting her people, they have 
driven her arts and industry into the hands of strangers, who 
laugh at our insanity. What patriot can avoid shedding tears 
when he contemplates the misery that must be the unavoidable 
consequence of such a preposterous course of procedure ? One 
consolation, however, remains to cheer our dejected spirits. As 
it was with the Israelites in Egypt, so it has ever been and will 
be. The more religion and virtue are persecuted, the more 
their votaries will increase. Inasmuch, therefore, as public 
opinion has erected the greatest empires, and again destroyed 
them; it will follow as a natural consequence, that so soon as 
oppression has alienated the mass of a people from that system 
under which they suffer, the fabric itself must give way. At 
present it may be fairly estimated, that every cruel act of in- 
tolerance, exercised against men of pious, moral, and useful 
lives, besides the sufferers themselves, alienates the affections of 
a thousand individuals from the national church, and without 
reverting to a more mild and conciliating mode of ecclesiastical 
policy, it may be safely averred, without pretending to the spi- 
rit of prophecy, that the time is not far distant when the breath 
of public opinion shall curtail the power of the prelates, and 
scatter the fragments of their tinsel fabric of superstition to the 
winds of heaven. I loved my country, and trembled at the pre- 
cipice over which the measures of the ecclesiastics were likely 
to plunge us, both as men and christians. And with a view to 
prevent, if possible, a catastrophe so dreadful, prayed the repre- 
sentatives of the nation to interfere before it was too late. 
Must I therefore be accounted an enemy, either to the church 
or state, for thus telling a truth of such importance ?" 

At these cutting remarks, Laud was so exceedingly enraged, 
that he desired the court to inflict the heaviest sentence that 
could be inflicted upon him; which was done to his lordship's 
great satisfaction. The sentence runs thus : " That Leighton 
shall be degraded from his orders in the ministry, have his ears 
cut off, his nose slit, and be branded in the face : That he shall 
stand in the pillory, be whipped at a post, pay a fine of ten 
thousand pounds, and suffer perpetual imprisonment." This 
dreadful sentence having passed on the unhappy Leighton, 
Laud pulled off his hat, and, holding up both his hands towards 
heaven, gave thanks to God, who had given him the victory over 
his enemies I ! ! 

A certain knight having intimated to a lord, high in office, 
his apprehensions that such dreadful sentences would open a 
door for the prelates to inflict the most disgraceful punishments 
and tortures, even upon men of quality. His loi'dship replied, 
" That it was designed merely for the terror of others, and that 



ALEXANDER LEIGHTON. 433 

there was no reason to believe it would ever be put in execu- 
tion." This worthy lord was, nevertheless, much mistaken; 
for Laud and his adherents had it executed in all its shocking 
severity. Accordingly, on November the 4th, he was degraded 
in the high commission, and on the 10th of the same month, 
being a star-chamber day, the sentence was intended to be put 
in execution; but Leighton, the preceding evening, had made 
his escape out of the Fleet, where he was kept a close prisoner. 
Information of this having reached the lords of council, they 
immediately ordered the following Hue and Cry to be printed 
and published throughout the kingdom. 

A Hue and Cry against Dr. Leighton. 

" Whereas Alexander Leighton, a Scotchman born, who 
was lately sentenced, by the honourable court of star-chamber, 
to pay a great fine to his majesty, and to undergo corporeal 
punishment, for writing, printing, and publishing a very libel- 
lous and seditious book against the king and his government, 
hath, this eleventh day of November, escaped out of the prison 
of the Fleet, where he was prisoner. These are, in his majes- 
ty's name, to require and command all justices of the peace, 
mayors, sheriffs, bailiffs, customers, searchers, and officers of 
the ports, and all others, his majesty's loving subjects, to use 
all diligence for the apprehending of the said Alexander Leigh- 
ton; and being apprehended, safely to keep him in custody un- 
til his majesty shall receive notice thereof, and shall give fur- 
ther directions concerning him. He is a man of low stature, 
fair complexion; he hath a yellowish beard, a high forehead, 
and between forty and fifty years of age." 

In consequence of the Hue and Cry following him into Bed- 
fordshire, he was apprehended, and brought back to the Fleet 
prison; and bishop Laud could not help transmitting to posteri- 
ty how anxious he was to have this barbarous sentence put in 
execution, and his mortification at Leighton's escape from pri- 
son, as appears from the following memorial, found written in 
his diary : M November 4th, Leighton was degraded in the high 
commission. November 9th, he broke out of the Fleet. The 
warden says, he got, or was helped, over the wall, and professes 
he knew not this from Tuesday till Wednesday noon. He told 
it not me till Thursday night. Leighton was taken again in 
Bedfordshire, and, within a fortnight, brought back to the Fleet. 
November 26th, part of his sentence was executed upon him at 
Westminster." This sentence, so gratifying to the tender feel- 
ings of the pious bishop, was inflicted in the manner following : 
He was taken to Westminster, where, having cut off one of his 
ears, they slit up one side of his nose, and with a red-hot iron 
16 3 i 



434 MEMOIR OF 

branded one of his cheeks with the letters S. S. for a Sower of 
Sedition. This done, he was put in the pillory, where he was 
held almost two hours under an intense frost; after which he 
was tied to a post, and whipped with a triple cord, with that 
severity, that every lash brought away the flesh; and though his 
friends had a coach in readiness to carry him back to the Fleet, 
he was not allowed that small indulgence; but compelled, not- 
withstanding his mangled state, and the severity of the season, 
to return by water. On the 3d of December, none of his 
wounds as yet closed, he was taken to Cheapside, where his 
other ear was cut off, the other side of his nose slit, and brand- 
ed on the other cheek; after which he was set in the pillory, 
and being whipped a second time, carried back to the Fleet, 
where he was kept ten weeks amid dirt and mire, not being 
sheltered from even the rain or the snow, and then shut up in 
close prison, where, for ten or eleven years, he was not permit- 
ted to breathe the open air. When this victim of prelatical ani- 
mosity came forth from his wretched abode, which was not till 
after the meeting of the long parliament, his limbs were so be- 
numbed that he could not walk, neither could he see or hear. 
The detail of his unparalleled sufferings, as set forth in his pe- 
tition to parliament, greatly moved the compassion of the 
people; and humanity will revolt at the cruel narrative, so long 
as it continues to be read. 

The long parliament having met, Dr. Leigh ton presented a 
petition, November 7th, 1640, to the commons, complaining of 
the cruelties that had been heaped upon him; which the House 
could not hear without being several times interrupted with 
bursts of indignation and tears. The petition being read, an 
order passed the House, "That Dr. Leighton shall have liberty 
to go abroad, in safe custody, to prosecute his petition here ex- 
hibited; and that he be forthwith removed from the common 
prison, where he now is, into some more convenient place, and 
have the liberty of the Fleet." At the same time, the House 
appointed a committee to take his petition into serious consider- 
ation. 

Owing to the innumerable complaints poured into the House 
from every quarter of the kingdom, together with a multitude 
of other matters that came before the committee, it was the 
21st of April before the report on Leighton's case could be pre- 
sented to the House; on which report, the following resolutions 
were passed : 

I. "That the attaching, imprisoning, and detaining Dr. 
Leigh ton in prison, by the warrant of the high commission, is 
illegal. 2. That the breaking up of Dr. Leigh ton's house, and 
taking away his papers, by Edward Wright, then sheriff, and 



ALEXANDER LEIGHTON. 435 

now lord mayor of London, is illegal. 3. That the said Edward 
Wright ought to give reparation to Dr. Leighton for his dama- 
ges sustained, by breaking open his house, and taking away his 
papers and other goods. 4. That the archbishop of Canterbury, 
then bishop of London, ought to give satisfaction to Dr. Leigh- 
ton for his damages sustained, by fifteen weeks imprisonment 
in Newgate upon the said bishop's warrant. 5. That the great 
fine of ten thousand pounds, laid upon Dr. Leighton by sen- 
tence of the star-chamber, is illegal. 6. That the sentence of 
the corporeal punishment, imposed upon Dr. Leighton, the 
whipping, branding, sliting the nose, cutting off his ears, setting 
in the pillory, and the execution thereof, and the imprisonment 
thereupon, is illegal. 7. That Dr. Leighton ought to be freed 
from the great fine of ten thousand pounds, and from the sen- 
tence of perpetual imprisonment, and to have his bonds deliver- 
ed to him which he gave for his true imprisonment. 8. That 
Dr. Leighton ought to have good satisfaction and reparation for 
his great damages and sufferings sustained, by the illegal sen- 
tence of the star-chamber." — Such were the resolutions of the 
House of commons, after a mature examination of this affecting 
case, when it was voted, that he should receive six thousand 
pounds for damages; though, on account of the confusion of the 
times, it is believed he never received the money. About two 
years after this, he was appointed, by the House of Commons, 
keeper of Lambeth house, which had been turned into a prison. 
While in this situation, he is said by some to have made repris- 
als on the purses of the loyal clergy and gentry for the damages 
he had sustained by their party. How far this is correct we 
have no means of ascertaining. If false, it was what he had 
reason to expect from the party. If true, it only amounts to 
this, that intolerance, persecution, and injustice, are crimes, 
whatever party or individual be the criminal. In 1643 Dr. 
Leighton was still keeper of Lambeth prison; but the time of 
his death we have not been able to ascertain. 



WILLIAM TWISSE, D. D. 

On the accession of James I. to the crown of England, the 
puritans anticipated, at the very least, a full toleration for their 
mode of worship under this presbyterian monarch, but were 
exceedingly mortified to find, that, in place of a toleration, 
Queen Elizabeth's act of conformity was pressed with more 
rigour by James, than had been done by his predecessor. En- 
chanted with the splendour of the English hierarchy, James 
so far deviated from his first principles, that he attempted, both 



436 MEMOIR OF 

by deceit and violence, to impose a prelatical government on 
the church of his ancient kingdom of Scotland, In this attempt, 
however, he failed, through the zeal and determined opposition 
of the Scottish nation ; but recommended it to his son and succes- 
sor, to embrace the first favourable opportunity to consummate 
the darling enterprize. Accordingly, Charles I. having mount- 
ed the throne, and, like his father, yielding to the flattery and 
influence of the ruling ecclesiastics, pushed religious uniformity 
in England to that degree, that by the arbitrary measures of the 
court of high commission, together with his own encroachments 
on the rights of the nation, the hearts of his English subjects 
were much alienated from the government both of church and 
state; while his imprudent attempt to force a religion on Scot- 
land, contrary to the general opinion, drove that nation into 
open and successful rebellion. 

Under these threatening circumstances, the non-conforming 
party in England, and the Scottish nation in general, in order 
to protect their civil and religious rights, found it necessary to 
unite their endeavours in fixing limits to the royal authority. 
Charles, who had now reigned about fifteen years, during the 
last eleven of which he had engrossed the whole power of par- 
liament, nor deigned to call them to the exercise of their privi- 
leges in the state, was at last constrained, by the necessity of his 
affairs, to summon his parliament, with the view of settling the 
alarming disorders of the nation. The long parliament accord- 
ingly met in 1640, and finding every thing in the greatest con- 
fusion, both in the civil and ecclesiastical departments, they re- 
quested the king to call an assembly of learned divines, to de- 
liberate on the measures necessary to regulate the disorders, 
and quiet the animosities that existed in the church. His ma- 
jesty having repeatedly refused to grant their request, and the 
matter being considered urgent, they changed their request in- 
to an ordinance of parliament, and called an assembly of di- 
vines by their own authority. 

This famous assembly met in Henry VII.'s chapel in West- 
minster Abbey, on the 1st of July 1643, when the ordinance of 
parliament was read, which declares the design of their conven- 
tion to be for the settlement of religion and church government. 
The number appointed by parliament were about one hundred 
and twenty. They were chosen from the three principal reli- 
gious denominations, the bishops, presbyterians, and indepen^ 
dents. None of the bishops attended, however, because the 
king had denounced the assembly as an unlawful and irregular 
meeting. The members did not appear in canonical habits, 
but generally in black clothes, with bands, in imitation of the 
foreign protestant divines. Numbers of the ablest divines of 



WILLIAM TWISSE. 487 

the age are enrolled in the list of this venerable body, and Dr. 
Twisse, the subject of our present memoir, was appointed, by 
both houses of parliament, to preside as their prolocutor *. 

This illustrious divine was born at Spenham-land, near New- 
bury in Berkshire, about the year 1575. His father was a re- 
spectable clothier, and had him educated first at Winchester 
school; from which, at the age of eighteen, he was sent to New 
college, Oxford, where he was chosen fellow. Here he spent 
sixteen years, and by the most assiduous attention to his studies, 
acquired an extraordinary proficiency in logic, philosophy, and 
divinity. His profound erudition was manifested in his public 
lectures and learned disputations, but more especially by his 
correcting the works of the celebrated Bradwardine, then pub- 
lishing by Sir Henry Savile. He took his degree of arts in 
1604, and, much about this time, entered into holy orders. He 
was an admired and popular preacher; and though some con- 
sidered his sermons too scholastic, he was greatly followed both 
by the students and townsmen. 

His uncommon fame having at last reached the court, he was 
chosen by king James to be chaplain to lady Elizabeth, then 
about to depart to the Palatine. With this appointment he 
cheerfully complied, and accompanied the young princess to that 
foreign court; and to moderate her grief at leaving her native 
land, her friends and her acquaintances, and render the journey 
both profitable and pleasant, he expounded some portion of 
scripture to her every day. He dwelt on the precarious nature 
of all sublunary things, the uncertainty of life, and the vast im- 
portance of a suitable preparation for death; and had so fortify- 
ed the mind of this pious young lady, that she afterwards met 
the greatest adversities with courage and resolution. For this 
amiable princess was no sooner crowned queen of Bohemia, 
than she was forced to flee from that country, though the pa- 
trimony of her husband, while in a state of pregnancy, and re- 
main an exile all the remainder of her days. Dr. Twisse did not 
remain, however, more than two months at the court of the Pa- 
latine, when he was called home to England, to the great grief 
of the queen and prince, her husband, who expressed his great 
concern in a Latin speech at his departure. On his arrival in 
England, he took his final leave of the court, and retired to a 
country village, and mean house, where he devoted himself to 
those profound studies, by which he laid the foundation of those 
rare and elaborate works, which will be admired by pious and 
learned men to the latest posterity. Dr. Twisse, about this 
time, became curate of Newbury, near the place of his birth, 

* It was thought most convenient to place the memoirs of the distinguished mem- 
bers of this assembly after that of Dr. Twisse. 



438 K MEMOIR OF 

where, by bis exemplary life, and a conscientious discharge of 
his ministerial duties, he acquired a most distinguished reputa- 
tion. In this retired situation, which was peculiarly suited to 
his taste, he lived in great peace and comfort. Secluded from 
the noise and bustle of the world, here his whole time was em- 
ployed in his favourite studies, and for the spiritual advantage 
of his flock. He had no taste for worldly riches, nor ambition 
for ecclesiastical preferment, but modestly refused them when 
offered him. Few ecclesiastics have ever been more anxious to 
obtain church preferment than Dr. Twisse was to avoid it. He 
was offered the provostship of Winchester college, and pressed 
to accept it. He was also entreated, by the bishop of Winches- 
ter, to accept of a prebend; both places he modestly refused. 
The earl of Warwick offered him a more valuable living than 
that of Newbury; which at first he agreed to accept, providing 
the people of his charge could be furnished with a suitable pas- 
tor. He accordingly waited on the archbishop of Canterbury, 
requesting his favourable approbation, and was kindly received. 
His lordship granted all he requested, and promised to make 
mention of him to the king, as a pious and learned divine, and 
no puritan. The doctor, however, saw through the snares that 
were laid for him, and returned to his charge at Newbury, re- 
solved to remain satisfied where he was. The states of Frees- 
land invited him to the professor's chair in the university of 
Franeker, and he was pressed to accept of a professor's place 
at Oxford; but he refused them both. 

With a view to arrest the progress of puritanism and serious 
religion, which were making alarming encroachments on the 
church, king James introduced a Book of Sports, for the amuse- 
ment of his loving subjects on the Sabbath-day, either before or 
after divine service. These sports consisted in dancing, drink- 
ing, leaping, vaulting, erecting May-poles, with all the frolics 
in use on such occasions, with a variety of similar amusements; 
among which archery held a conspicuous place. His son, 
Charles I., pursuing similar views, again proclaimed an enlarg- 
ed copy of said book, which he ordered to be read from the pul- 
pits of every parish in the kingdom, under the pain of suspen- 
sion and deprivation. Regardless of the penalty, Dr. Twisse 
refused to read it, and even ventured to declare himself de- 
cidedly against all such Sabbath profanation. Other faith- 
ful ministers did the same; for which they suffered the 
penalty. The doctor, however, came off better than many 
of his brethren, who were suspended from their ministry, 
driven out of the kingdom, or committed to prison. His 
refusal to read the proclamation did not escape the notice of 
the court; but the king ordered the bishops to take no notice 



WILLIAM TWISSE. 439 

of the circumstance, but pass over his transgression. His ma- 
jesty knew, that although Dr. Twisse was poor, and lived in 
an obscure situation, his fame was great in all the reformed 
churches, and that therefore nothing severe could be done 
against him without becoming a public reproach to themselves. 
Dr. Twisse continued to exhibit his public testimony against 
the Book of Sports, till it was finally ordered to be burnt by 
the hands of the hangman, on the 5th of May 1643. He spar- 
ed neither king nor parliament, but, with great ingenuity? turn- 
ed this their own act against themselves. It was perhaps on 
account of his spirited opposition to the measures of the court 
and clergy, that Dr. Prideaux once said, " That the bishops of 
England little consulted their own credit, in not appointing Dr. 
Twisse, though against his inclination, to some splendid eccle- 
siastical dignity, by which, though they should not succeed in 
drawing him over to their party, they might at least mitigate or 
mollify the popular envy, and not hear themselves exposed to 
scorn by the curate of Newbury." During the civil wars, 
prince Rupert, being at Newbury, entertained our divine very 
courteously, and made him many honourable promises if he 
would forsake the puritans, write in defence of the xoyal 
cause, and live amongst the king's party. But the doctor very 
wisely, and very politely, declined the royal invitation. 

From the books he had published, particularly his controver- 
sial works, he obtained an amazing celebrity. Here his talents 
and erudition were employed on his favourite subjects, without 
the least control, and with unrivaled success. Amongst his 
numerous antagonists were Dr. Thomas Jackson, Mr Henry 
Mason, and Dr. Thomas Godwin, a man of great learning, and 
celebrated for his knowledge in antiquities. He next encoun- 
tered Mr John Goodwin, the celebrated advocate for armini- 
anism, whom he is said to have refuted with great learning and 
judgment. His next contest was with Dr Cotton, a divine 
whom he highly esteemed, and whom he treated with great 
gentleness. He published a very learned refutation of Dr Pot- 
ter's Survey of the New Platform 6f Predestination, and treat- 
ed Dr. Heylin according to his deserts, in his Defence of the 
Morality of the Sabbath. He also successfully combated the 
famous Arminius, and others, in defence of the doctrines of 
grace. His answers to Dr. Jackson and Arminius, and his 
Riches of God's Love, when first published, were all suppressed 
by the arbitrary appointment of bishop Land. 

In the year 1640, Dr. Twisse was chosen one of the sub-com- 
mittee, to assist the committee of accommodation, appointed by 
the lords for considering the innovations that had been intro- 
duced into the church, and to promote a farther reformation. 



440 MEMOIR OF 

In 1643 he was nominated, by an order of parliament, prolocu- 
tor to the assembly of divines, who met at Westminster, by an 
ordinance of parliament, to settle religion and the government 
of the church. This learned assembly was opened on the 1st 
of July 1643, in Henry the VII's chapel, Westminster Abbey, 
where both Houses of parliament attended. On this rare occa- 
sion, Dr. Twisse, the prolocutor, preached a sermon, wherein he 
warmly exhorted his learned auditory to a faithful discharge of 
their duty, in promoting the glory of God, and the honour and 
interest of his church and people; expressing his regret that these 
proceedings wanted the royal assent, but was in hopes it might 
yet be attained in due time, and a happy union re-established be- 
tween the king, his parliament, and his people. Along with 
the presbyterians and independents, many of the most learned 
of the episcopal divines were also nominated. Archbishop 
Usher, bishops Wastford, Prideaux, and Brownrigg; Drs. 
Howldsworth, Hammond, Sanderson, and others, had been ap- 
pointed, but refused to attend; because the king, by his pro- 
clamation of June 22d, had prohibited the assembly, declaring 
that no act done by them ought to be received by his subjects; 
threatening, moreover, to proceed against them with the utmost 
rigour of law. 

None were permitted to enter the assembly without a written 
order from both Houses of parliament. They met every law- 
ful day, with the exception of Saturday, which was allowed the 
divines to prepare for preaching on the Sabbath. They gene- 
rally sat from nine in the morning till two, or sometimes three 
in the afternoon; which sederunts the prolocutor began and 
ended with prayer. About sixty of the members were gene- 
rally present. They were formed into three committees, each 
of which took a portion of the work, and prepared it for public 
discussion in the assembly. The committees had their senti- 
ments drawn up in distinct propositions, supported by texts of 
scripture; which propositions, as they came in order, were read 
to the assembly by one of the scribes, together with the texts 
by which they were supported; whereupon the assembly de- 
bated with much gravity, learning, and readiness. " I am sur- 
prised (says Mr Baillie, one of the Scotch commissioners to this 
assembly) at the very accurate extemporanious replies made by 
many of the members. Their speeches are often long, and al- 
ways very learned. They study the subject well, and prepare 
their speeches ; but withal they are exceeding prompt and well 
spoken." None were called up to deliver their sentiments; 
they rose of their own accord, and were heard, without inter- 
ruption, as long as they pleased to go on; and when the propo- 
sition was supposed to have been sufficiently discussed, there 
was a general cry for the question." 



WILLIAM TWISSE. 441 

When the winter came on, the assembly removed to the 
Jerusalem chamber, a large and elegant room in Westminster 
Abbey, which had been fitted up for their reception. At the 
upper end of the room there was a chair, set on a frame, about 
a foot higher than the rest, for Dr. Twisse, before which stood 
two chairs on the floor for the assessors, in front of whom sat 
the clerks. The Scotch commissioners were seated on the pro- 
locutor's right hand, who, on their entering the assembly, wel- 
comed them in a long and very appropriate speech. Dr. 
Twisse, on account of his age and manifold infirmities, was not 
long able to attend upon the weighty concerns of this assembly. 
He had been long grieved to behold the contentions between 
the king and parliament, which he declared would at last ruin 
both; and often expressed a wish that the fire of contention 
might be extinguished, if it were even with his blood. The 
great contentions in the assembly, between the presbyterians 
and independents, greatly disturbed the serenity of his mind, 
and impaired his bodily health. For though his constitution 
was good, and his disposition cheerful, through age his body 
had become heavy and rather burdensome; so that, while warm- 
ly impressing the importance of divine truth on the minds of 
his hearers, he fell down in the pulpit, and was carried home 
to his bed, where he languished for about twelve months. Dur- 
ing his long illness, he was visited by people of all ranks, who 
were lovers either of religion or learning, to whom he gave re- 
markable evidence of his faith, patience, and christian resigna- 
tion under affliction. By the civil war he had been driven 
from his curacy and the people of his charge at Newbury, and 
deprived of all his property by the royal army; insomuch that, 
when a deputation from the assembly visited him, they report- 
ed that he laboured under great affliction and extreme poverty. 
Upon this report the parliament took his case into considera- 
tion, and passed an order, December 4th, 1645, that one hun- 
dred pounds should be given him out of the public treasury. 
Almost the last words Dr. Twisse uttered were, " I shall now, at 
last, have leisure enough to prosecute my studies to all eternity." 
He died the 20th July 1646, in the seventy-first year of his 
age. The whole House of Commons, and the Assembly of Di- 
vines, paid their respects to his memory, by following his re- 
mains to the grave in one sorrowful procession. Dr. Robert 
Harris preached his funeral sermon from Joshua i. 2. " Moses, 
my servant, is dead." He was buried in Westminster Abbey, 
where his body was only permitted to rest till the restoration, 
when, by orders of Charles II., his bones were disinterred, and, 
together with the bodies of many others, eminent both in church 
and state, thrown into a pit, dug for the purpose, in St. Mar- 

16 3 k 



442 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM TWISSE. 

garet's church-yard. A wretched specimen of the fine feelings, 
and delicate sensibility, with which the panegyrists of this royal 
violator of the tombs has attempted to laud his memory ! The 
savages of New Zealand would scorn such contemptible and 
unworthy proceedings; not even the daring and celebrated 
Admiral Blake, who raised the naval reputation of his country 
above all former example, and whose services to the English 
nation will stand as a monument of his renown to the latest 
posterity, could escape this brutal and malevolent indignity. 
A considerable number shared the same fate; and had not an ex- 
pression of the public indignation induced the king to more 
prudential measures, there is no saying how far these barba- 
rities might have been carried on. 

Dr. Twisse having thus left his family in indigent circum- 
stances, the parliament voted one thousand pounds to be given 
to his children. Whether they ever received the money, the 
confusions of that period leave rather doubtful. Mr Clark 
says, " He was greatly admired for his learning, subtile wit, 
and correct judgment, integrity, modesty, and self-denial." 
Fuller calls him a divine of great abilities, piety? learning, and 
moderation; and Wood says his plan of preaching was good, 
his disputations were accounted better; but his pious life was 
esteemed the best of all. All writers against arminianism have 
made honourable mention of his works, and acknowledged him 
to have been the mightiest man that age produced on these con- 
troversies; and the most learned of his adversaries have acknow- 
ledged, that there was nothing extant, on the arminian contro- 
versy, more full and accurate than what is to be found in his 
works. 

His works are, 1. A Discovery of Dr. Jackson's Vanities.— 
2. Vindiciae Gratiae, Potestatis et Providential Die. — 3. Dis- 
sertatia Scientia Media Tribus Libris Absoluta. — 4. Disser- 
tiones. — 5. Of the Morality of the Fourth Command. — 6. A 
Treatise of Reprobation, in Answer to Mr John Cotton. — 1. 
Animadvertiones ad Jacobi Arminii Collat cum Frank Junio 
et Joh Arnold Corvin. — 8. Predestinatione et Gratia. — 9. The 
Doubting Conscience Resolved. — 10. The Riches of God's 
Love to the Vessels of Mercy, consistent with his Absolute 
Hatred or Reprobation of the Vessels of Wrath. — 11. Two 
Tracts, in Answer to Dr. H. Hammond. — 12. The Synod of 
Dort and Ares Reduced to Practice, with an Answer. — 13, The 
Sufficiency of the Scriptures to Determine all Matters of Faith. 
—14. The Christian Sabbath Defended against the crying evil 
of the Anti-sabbatarians of our age. — 15. Fifteen Letters, pub- 
lished in Mede's Works, with numerous Manuscripts beside. 



443 



JEREMIAH BURROUGHS, A. M. 

This amiable divine was born 1599, and educated at Cam- 
bridge, from which university, as well as from the kingdom, he 
was forced to retire on account of his non-conformity. Having 
finished his studies in the university, he entered on the minis- 
terial work, and was chosen colleague to Mr Edmund Calamy, 
at Bury St. Edmund's. In the year 1631 he became rector of 
Titshall in Norfolk county; but upon the publication of bishop 
Wren's Visitation Articles, in 1633, he was suspended, and de- 
prived of his living. From the intolerable oppression of the 
ruling ecclesiastics, Mr Burroughs sheltered himself for some 
time under the hospitable roof of the patriotic earl of Warwick ; 
but the noble earl, unable to afford him any longer protection, 
he soon found it necessary to retire into Holland, from the 
persecution that raged in England against the puritans. 
After his arrival in Holland he settled at Rotterdam, where he 
became teacher to the congregational church, of which Mr Wil- 
liam Bridge was the pastor. He is charged with having at- 
tempted to bribe the bishop's chancellor with an offer of forty 
pounds, after being suspended, and of sailing into Holland, and 
returning, disguised in the habit of a soldier, with a great quan- 
tity of libellous pamphlets for circulation in England; on which 
account he is said to have been deprived for his non-residence. 
Mr Edwards, however, has given a very different account of 
this affair; and says, that for speaking against the Scotch war, in a 
company which he could not trust, he fled to Rotterdam for 
fear of the consequences, at which he (Mr Edwards) greatly 
stumbled. Animadverting on this misrepresentation, Mr Bur- 
roughs observes, " That had Mr Edwards conferred with him 
on that matter, before he put his book to the press, as he had re- 
quested him to do. he would have given him such complete satis- 
faction respecting his leaving the kingdom, that he neither could 
have stumbled himself, nor caused others to stumble. I am so fully 
clear in that business, says he, that I wiped off, before my lord 
of Warwick, every thing that might have the appearance of in- 
discretion, not by my own testimony, but by that of two gen^ 
tlemen, which, beside the accuser, were all that were in com- 
pany while that affair was spoken of. The truth is, no such 
speeches were made. That I fled to Rotterdam, in all haste, is 
equally uncandid and untrue. It was four or five months after 
this accusation before I went to Rotterdam. Had not the pre- 
latical faction been incensed against me, for standing out 
against their superstitions, I could have stood to what I had 
spoken, as I ^nly put some queries, but affirmed nothing. But 



444 MEMOIR OF 

I knew how dangerous the times were, and what the power of 
the prelatical party at that time was : That they were extreme- 
ly incensed against me, and that, in my case, innocence itself 
could afford me no security. I had been deprived of my living 
by bishop Wren, where, I believe, I suffered as great a brunt as 
most of those who remained in England; though Mr Edwards 
has been pleased to say we fled that we might be safe ashore, 
while our brethren were enduring the tempest at sea. Four or 
five months having thus elapsed since my accusation, I began 
to think all would blow over, when my lord of Warwick, fall- 
ing sick in London, sent for me, with whom I remained three 
weeks, going freely up and down the city. My lord, who knew 
the whole affair, was also of opinion that the storm was over; 
and when I was thus in hopes that I had been set free from my 
accuser, a messenger from Rotterdam arrived, with a call to me 
in writing, signed by the elders, and many other hands, in 
the name of the church; upon which we agreed upon the time 
when, and the place where, we should meet in Norfolk, to make 
a full conclusion, and prepare for our voyage." 

Upon Mr Burroughs' arrival at Rotterdam, he was cordially 
received by the church, where he continued a zealous and faith- 
ful labourer for several years, and gained a very high reputa- 
tion among the people. After the commencement of the civil 
war, when the power of the bishops was no longer dangerous, 
he returned to England, says Granger, not to preach sedition, 
but peace; for which he earnestly prayed and contended. As 
a divine, Mr Burroughs was greatly honoured and esteemed, 
and became a most popular and admired preacher. He was 
chosen by the congregations of Stepney and Cripplegate, Lon- 
don, at that time accounted two of the largest congregations in 
England. Mr Burroughs preached at Stepney at seven o'clock 
in the morning, and Mr William Greenhill at three in the 
afternoon. These two men, whom Wood stigmatizes with the 
name of notorious schismatics and independents, were denomi- 
nated, by Hugh Peters, the morning and evening stars of 
Stepney. 

Mr Burroughs was chosen one of the assembly of divines, 
and was one of the dissenting brethren, but a divine of great 
wisdom and moderation. He united, with Mr Thomas Good- 
win, Philip Nye, and Sydrach Sympson, in publishing their 
Apologetical Narration, in defence of their own peculiar senti- 
ments. The authors of this work, who had all been exiles for 
their religion, to speak in their own language, consulted the 
scriptures without prejudice. They considered the word of 
God as impartially as men of flesh and blood are likely to do, 
in any juncture of time; the place they went to, the condition 



JEREMIAH BURROUGHS. 445 

they were in, and the company they were with, affording no 
temptation to any bias whatever. They assert, that every con- 
gregation has power within itself sufficient to regulate and go- 
vern all religious concerns, and is subject to no external spirit- 
ual authority whatever. The principles upon which they 
founded their church government, were to confine themselves, 
in every particular, to what the scriptures prescribe, without 
the least regard to either the opinions or practice of men, leav- 
ing themselves room for alterations upon receiving additional 
light from the word of God. 

In conformity with these principles, Mr Burroughs united 
with his brethren in writing and publishing their reasons 
against certain propositions concerning presbyterial government. 
In 1645 he was chosen one of the committee of accommoda- 
tion, and was especially serviceable in their important delibera- 
tions. He possessed uncommon candour and moderation; and 
during their debates, he made a declaration in the name of the 
independents, " That unless their congregations could be exempt- 
ed from the coercive power of the classes, and left to govern 
themselves in their own way, so long as they conducted them- 
selves with propriety toward the civil magistrate, they were re- 
solved to suffer, or retire to some other place of the world, 
where they could enjoy the liberty of conscience. For, said he, 
so long as men continue to think there can be no religious 
peace without forcing all into one opinion; so long as they 
consider the sword an ordinance of God to determine all reli- 
gious controversy; that fines, imprisonment, and persecution, 
are the only means for reclaiming the disobedient; and that 
there is no middle course between an exact conformity and a 
general confusion — there must, of necessity, be abase subjection 
of men's consciences to the most unsufferable slavery, a sup- 
pression of much truth, and the whole christian world remain 
a scene of animosity and universal discord." 

After his return from exile, Mr Burroughs never gathered a 
separate congregation, nor accepted of any parochial benefice, 
but continued to exhaust his strength by constant preaching, 
and other ministerial services, for the advantage of the church 
of Christ. He was of a meek and amiable spirit, yet had he 
some bitter enemies, who, to their own disgrace, poured upon 
him the bitterest falsehoods. Mr Edwards, whose pen was often 
dipt in gall, heaps upon him many reproachful and unfounded 
reflections. This peevish and bigoted writer warmly censures 
Mr Burroughs for propagating his own sentiments on church 
government, and even for pleading for a general toleration; 
but our divine, with his usual candour, repelled the foolish 
charges, proved his own innocence, and exposed the malevolence 
of his enemv. 



446 MEMOIR OF 

The last subject on which Mr Burroughs preached, and 
which he also published, was his Irenicum, or an Attempt to 
Heal the Divisions among Christian Professors. His incessant 
labours, and the grief occasioned by the distractions of the 
times, greatly contributed to hasten his end. He died of a con- 
sumption, November 14th, 1646, in the forty-seventh year of 
his age. Granger says, " He was a man of learning, candour, 
and modesty; in his life irreproachable, and highly exemplary." 
Fuller has classed him with the learned writers of Emanuel 
college, Cambridge. Dr. Williams says, " That his exposition 
of Hosea is a pleasing specimen of the popular mode of preach- 
ing, and serves to show with what facility the preachers of his 
time applied the scriptures to the various cases of their hearers 
in their expository discourses. He published several of his 
writings while he lived, and his friends sent forth many others 
after his death, most of them were highly esteemed by all pious 
christians." 

His works are, 1. Moses' Choice. — 2. Sion's Joy, a Sermon, 
preached to the Honourable House of Commons at their Pub- 
lic Thanksgiving, September 7th, 1641. — 3. An Exposition of 
the Prophecy of Hosea. — 4. The Lord's Heart Opened. — 5. 
A Vindication of Mr Burroughs against Mr Edward's Foul As- 
persions, in his spreading Gangarena, and his angry Antapolo- 
gia, concluding with a brief Declaration of what the Indepen- 
dents would have. — 6. Irenicum, to the Lovers of Truth and 
Peace.— 7. Two Treatises, the first of Earthly-mindedness, the 
second of Conversing in Heaven, and Walking with God. — 8. 
An Exposition of the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th chapters of Hosea. 

9. An Exposition upon the 8th and 9th chapters of Hosea. — 

10. The rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. — 11. Gospel 
Worship. — 12. Gospel Conversation. — 13. The Evil of Evils, 
or the exceeding Sinfulness of Sin. — 14. The Saint's Treasury. 
15. Of Hope and Faith, and the Saint's Walk by Faith.— 16. 
Reconciliation, or Christ's Trumpet of Peace. — 17. The Saint's 
Happiness. — 18. A Treatise of Holy Carriage in Evil Times. — 

19. True Blessedness, which consists in the Pardon of Sin. — - 

20. Four useful Discourses. 



CORNELIUS BURGESS, D.D. 

This active and zealous puritan divine was descended from 
the Burgesses of Batcom in Somersetshire. He had his educa- 
tion at Oxford. In what college he first entered is uncertain, 
however, on the erection of Wadham college he translated him- 
self thither, and there took his degree of arts. Afterwards he 



CORNELIUS BURGESS. 44? 

removed to Lincoln college, where he received holy orders, 
and had some cure bestowed upon him; which, according to 
Wood, seems to have been the rectory of Magnus church, Lon- 
don, or the vicarage of Watford in Hertfordshire, or probably 
both these places. In the beginning of Charles' Fs. reign, he 
became one of his chaplains in ordinary, and in 1627 he took 
his degrees in divinity. In consequence of his opposition to the 
ceremonies, and other innovations daily introducing into the 
church by bishop Laud and his intolerant faction, he was 
greatly harassed by the court of high commission, where he 
was charged, in 1622, with having administered the sacrament 
to some of the people sitting, and afterwards for having refused 
to read the common prayer in his surplice and hood. In 1635 
he preached a Latin sermon to the London ministers in Al ph- 
age church, by the appointment of the governors of Zion col- 
lege. In this sermon he warmly urged all possible diligence in 
preaching the gospel of the kingdom, asserting, that it was the 
bounden duty, even of the bishops themselves, to put their hand 
to this important branch of the public service of God, in imita- 
tion of the primitive bishops; of whom it is recorded, to their 
honour, that they were to be found more frequently in the pul- 
pit than in the palaces of princes, more occupied as ambassadors 
of the Prince of the kings of the earth, than in the embassies of 
earthly potentates ; quoting, at the same time, an old canon of 
the sixth general council, in which bishops are enjoined to 
preach often, at least every Lord's day, or to be canonically ad- 
monished for such neglect; whereupon, if they reform not, it 
was farther ordained, that they be excommunicated or deposed. 
The import of this sermon having been reported to the arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, he complained to the king; upon which 
the doctor was summoned before the court of high commission, 
where articles were exhibited against him, to the effect that 
he was disaffected to the book of common prayer, the ceremo- 
nies, and also to the government of the church by bishops, &c. 
besides, having charged the prelates with conniving at, and en- 
couraging the propagation of, arminianism, and the restoration 
of popery; but, above all, with having insinuated an accusation 
against the bishops for their neglecting to preach often, as the 
primitive bishops are said to have done : — For these, and his 
non-conforming sentiments, the ecclesiastical rulers were mad 
against him, and their party everywhere cried out, that his con- 
duct merited the highest censures of the church. His answers 
to the charges brought against him were so powerful, however, 
and his protestation annexed to his sermon, wherein he declares 
his conviction, that he had done or said nothing but what he 
was in duty bound to perform; and that, under that conviction, 



448 MEMOIR OF 

he was determined to stand by every sentence lie had uttered 
in the sermon alluded to, and defend the same against all oppo- 
sers, even unto death. He delivered a copy of this sermon and 
protestation to archbishop Laud, who, with more than his usual 
moderation, let the affair drop. Dr. Burgess possessed the spi- 
rited and manly character with which our reforming forefathers 
were so eminently endowed; and his zeal, activity, and un- 
daunted resolution in the service of the church, had been mani- 
fested on many important occasions. 

The bishops, at this time, were extremely indifferent about 
preaching, if not strongly set against it; and the conforming 
clergy, in general, were most remiss in this part of their cleri- 
cal duty; nor could it well be otherwise, when the prelates were 
so averse to this mode of instruction, that one of them, in deri- 
sion, compared the minister that preached twice on a Sabbath, 
to Virgil's cow, that came twice a-day to the milking pail. 
Those ministers, however, who considered the importance of 
their office, and were zealous for the truths of the gospel and 
the salvation of men, continued fearlessly to do their duty at 
every hazard, and were much encouraged, about this time, by 
many of the leading men in the kingdom, particularly in both 
Houses of Parliament; by which means the majority of the na- 
tion were become cold to the episcopal government, and warm- 
ly attached to the presbyterian or congregational mode of disci- 
pline. 

When the long parliament met on November 3d, 1640, both 
Houses petitioned the king to appoint a fast, that they might 
solemnly implore the Divine Majesty for a blessing on their 
counsels; which fast was observed on the 17th of the same 
month, and Dr. Burgess and Mr Marshall were appointed to 
preach before the House of Commons; on which occasion, we 
are informed, that the service of the day continued for seven 
hours. Wood says, that " Dr. Burgess, Stephen Marshall, Ed- 
mund Calamy, and others, on the approach of the troubles of 
those times, first whispered in their conventicles, and after- 
wards publicly preached, that it was lawful, in defence of reli- 
gion, for subjects to take up arms against their sovereign; which 
doctrine being also admitted by the elders, the people of Lon- 
don rushed violently into rebellion, and became pliable tools in 
the hand of the faction in parliament, to raise tumults, make 
outcries for j ustice, call for innocent blood, subscribe and pre- 
fer petitions against the lioly liturgy and the hierarchy; and es- 
pecially, if Dr. Burgess but held up his finger to his myrmidons, 
to strike both at root and branch of the church of England." 
The earl of Clarendon also says, " That the archbishop of Can- 
terbury never had so powerful an influence over the counsels 



CORNELIUS BURGESS. 44*9 

at court, as Dr. Burgess and Mr Marshall had over the houses 
of parliament." That Dr. Burgess and Mr Marshall were very- 
active in the cause of parliament during the civil war, is un- 
doubtedly true. They encouraged taking up arms in defence 
of the civil rights of the subject, and that religious freedom, 
without which no conscientious christian could enjoy even 
his civil privileges; and this at a period, when the arbitrary- 
decrees of the star-chamber, and the cruel and bigoted man- 
dates of the court of high commission, were become insupport- 
able, while the will of the sovereign was substituted in place of 
the constitutional laws of the realm, and no alternative left but 
opposition or slaveiy. That ever they concurred in those after 
measures, that led to the death of the king and the dissolution 
of the constitution, even their enemies have never been able to 
make good. Mr Marshall has published a defence of the part he 
took in the civil war, and Dr. Burgess has also published an ac- 
count of his principles and conduct during that distressing pe- 
riod, which Mr Calamy considers highly worthy of being preserv- 
ed for the benefit of posterity. 

In 1641 Dr Burgess delivered an animated speech in the 
House of Commons against deans and chapters. Their aboli- 
tion was warmly disputed in the House, and that their revenues 
ought to be applied to more necessary purposes. This greatly 
alarmed the cathedral men, who, in consulting their own safety, 
agreed to send a divine from every cathedral in England to 
solicit their friends in parliament in behalf of their several foun- 
dations. Petitions were also forwarded from the universities 
of Oxford and Cambridge. The deputies from the cathedrals 
drew up a petition, praying to be heard by counsel; but were 
informed, that if they had any thing to offer on the subject, 
they should appear and plead their cause themselves. They 
therefore selected Dr. John Hackett, prebendary of St. Paul's, 
for their counsel, who, being admitted to the bar of the House, 
made an elaborate speech in their behalf; wherein he chiefly 
insisted on the topics of the Oxford address, urging, that cathe- 
drals were well calculated to supply the defects of private prayer: 
That they were highly serviceable for the advancement of 
learning, and the training of young men for the defence of the 
church: That their loss would be severely felt, and singularly 
prej udicial to the interests of religion, but highly gratifying to 
its enemies. In conclusion, he put them in mind that, at the 
reformation, preaching first began in the cathedrals; drew 
their attention to the antiquity of these structures, and the 
many thousands maintained by them; their endowments, as 
greatly encouraging industry and virtue : That they were very 
beneficial to the crown, paying into the exchequer, in first fruits 

IT 3 l 



4£0 MEMOIR OF 

and tenths, in a larger proportion than other corporations: And, 
finally, reminding the House, that these sacred edifices and es- 
tates were consecrated to God, and barred alienation with 
the most dreadful of all imprecations. Dr. Burgess replied, 
and pointed out their unprofitableness, and the egregious folly 
of spending such immense revenues, for that which, in many 
cases, was worse than useless. He complained, that the lives of 
their singing men were debauched; that their conversation was 
a disgrace to religion and christian morality; and that their ex- 
ample was like a contaminating pestilence, or a mildew that blast- 
ed the opening buds of virtue and religion. Having, at great 
length, replied to every particular of Dr. Hackett's speech, he said, 
in conclusion, that though, he apprehended, it was obviously ne- 
cessary to apply the revenues of the cathedrals to better purposes, 
yet he held it by no means lawful to alienate them from public 
and pious uses, or convert them to the profit of individuals. He 
was a strenuous advocate for reformation, at this critical junc- 
ture, both in church and state. The arbitrary measures of the 
government, and the cruel intolerance of the bishops, had, dur- 
ing the last ten years, wonderfully altered the sentiments of the 
people with regard to both. This parliament, therefore, had 
been elected with a view to the redress of the public complaints, 
which were pouring into the Commons from every quarter; 
and the majority being of reforming sentiments, these com- 
plaints were readily attended to, and the victims of politics and 
religion were, in great numbers, relieved from prison and per- 
secution. 

Dr. Burgess was chosen one of those pacificators, who met 
in the Jerusalem chamber at Westminster, 1641, on purpose to 
accommodate the differences in ecclesiastical matters. They 
consulted together for six several days, but failed in compromis- 
ing their differences. He was frequently appointed to preach 
before parliament, particularly the House of Commons; and 
being much approved for his zeal, fortitude, and fidelity, and 
admirably adapted to the nature of the military service, he was 
selected by Essex, commander of the parliamentary forces, as 
chaplain to his regiment of horsemen. He was also nominated 
a member of the Westminster assembly of divines, and, together 
with Mr John White, chosen assessor, to supply the place of 
the prolocutor in case of his absence or indisposition. On the 
first of September, when the solemn league and covenant was 
submitted to the assembly, and generally approved, Dr. Burgess 
argued against imposing it on the people; but afterwards took 
it himself, and was grieved that he could not prevail on others 
to be of the same mind and accommodating disposition. 

When the bishops came to the resolution of refusing ordination 



CORNELIUS BURGESS. 451 

to all who were not in the interest of the crown, application 
having been made to the assembly for advice in this matter, 
they advised, that an association of godly ministers, from 
London, and other places, be appointed, by pubJic authority, to 
ordain ministers for the vacant congregations in London, and 
throughout the kingdom. Agreeable to this advice, the parlia- 
ment passed an ordinance, October the 2d, 1644, appointing ten 
divines, being presbyters and members of the assembly, to exa- 
mine and ordain, by imposition of hands, those only whom they 
judged admissible into the sacred office of the ministry; and 
Dr. Burgess was one of that number, whose name stands at the 
head of the list. To these ten, others were appointed who 
were not members of the assembly; so that the prelatical rulers 
were taken in their own craftiness, and the vacancies of the 
church filled with able ministers. Dr. Burgess was appointed, 
by parliament, at the request of the people of London, as lec- 
turer at St. Paul's on the Sabbath evening, and also on a work- 
ing day, weekly, with an allowance of four hundred pounds 
a-year, to be paid from the revenues of the cathedral. 

When the king had deserted the parliament, and levied an 
army against them, they were under the necessity of request- 
ing a voluntary loan of money, horses, plate, and whatever was 
convertible to the use of an army, which they were forced to 
raise in the defence of the rights of the country, or, in their 
own language, " for the defence of both king and parliament." 
Dr. Burgess lent them several sums of money; and, in the year 
1646, the parliament, by their ordinance, appointed and ordain- 
ed all the lands and revenues of the bishops to be sold, and the 
money applied to the exigencies of the state. In this ordinance, 
all those who had lent money, horses, plate, &c, for the public 
service, were requested to double their account, and draw the 
whole either in money or lands from that of the bishops; inti- 
mating, that they who did not double, would have nothing far- 
ther to secure their loans than the despised public faith, nor even 
that security, till all doublers were first satisfied. The doctor 
had a wife and ten children to provide for, who must be ruined 
if this money miscarried; and, to prevent the hazard of all, 
he doubled, which raised the nominal account to three thousand 
four hundred pounds, beside his loan for Ireland. He did all 
in his power to recover his loans in money, but could not; and 
finding the divisions, and several interests pursued by the par- 
ties who now directed public affairs, daily increasing, and him- 
self but poorly requitted for all his faithful services, he was 
obliged to take up his money in bishops' lands; for which he has 
suffered the reproach of the royal and prelatic party, besides, 
on the restoration of Charles II., losing the whole amount, for 



452 MEMOIR OF 

which, about one year before, according to Wood, he was offer- 
ed twelve thousand pounds. 

Dr. Burgess preached a sermon, at Mercer's Chapel, on the 
14th January 1648, wherein he inveighed, with great freedom, 
in the face of imminent danger, against the design of taking off 
the king; and, about the same time, appeared at the head of a 
number of the London ministers, in vindication of themselves 
from the unjust aspersions laid to their charge, of being acces- 
sory to the king's death. This paper was drawn up by Dr. 
Burgess, and Mr Calamy has given it at length, with fifty-seven 
signatures. His name is also to be found, amongst many other 
highly respectable characters, in Mr Calamy's index of those 
who were ejected or silenced by the act of uniformity, at which 
time he was ejected from St. Andrews, in the city of Wells, in 
Somersetshire. 

After the restoration, the royalists and zealous churchmen 
became the ruling party in the land, and aided by the interest 
and intrigues of the court, prevailed in most of the elections. 
Only about fifty-six members were of the presbyterian party, 
a number too small either to retard or defeat the measures of so 
large a majority. Monarchy, therefore, and episcopacy, were 
again exalted to their former splendour; and in place of learn- 
ing wisdom in the school of adversity, in which they had been 
instructed about twelve years, they were now become still more 
malicious and intolerant. The solemn league and covenant, the 
act for erecting the high court of justice, with that for subscrib- 
ing the engagement, and for declaring England a common- 
wealth, were all ordered to be burnt by the hands of the hang- 
man; on which occasion the mobility assisted with great alacri- 
ty. Bishops were again restored to their seats in parliament; 
and after an adjournment of a few months, the parliament were 
again assembled, November 20th, 1661, when they proceeded 
to business with a more intolerant spirit than had ever been exhi- 
bited in the former reign. " The act of uniformity (says Mr 
Neal) stood on higher terms now than before the civil war; be- 
sides, that the book of common prayer was also rendered more ex- 
ceptionable, by an addition of apocryphal lessons from the Idol 
Bell and the Dragon, with the addition of some new holidays; 
as St. Barnabas and the conversion of St. Paul, and a few new 
collects and alterations made by the bishops themselves." This 
bill passed into a law on the 24th of August 1662. Bishop 
Burnet says, " It passed with but a small majority." St. Bar- 
tholomew-day was the time appointed for the commencement 
of its operation, and seems to have been pitched upon for the 
crudest purpose, as the tythes are due at michaelmas; and those 
who could not, with a good conscience, conform, were thereby 



CORNELIUS BURGESS. 453 

cut short of the whole year's support, and left to all the hor- 
rors of want and wretchedness. The clauses of this infamous 
act are studiously cruel and vindictive. In order to render a 
clergyman eligible to any ecclesiastical benefice, he must be or- 
dained by the episcopal order; and if otherwise ordained before, 
he must be subjected to a second ordination in that form. 
He must declare his assent and consent to every thing contain- 
ed in the book of common prayer, administration of the sacra- 
ments, and other rites and ceremonies of the church of Eng- 
land, with the psalter, and the form of making, ordaining, and 
consecrating bishops, priests, and deacons. He must also take 
the oath of canonical obedience, abjure the solemn league and 
covenant, and renounce the principle of taking up arms against 
the king on any pretence whatsoever. 

This bill reinstated the church of England in the same con- 
dition it held under Charles I., with these additional clauses of 
severity; and the persecuting laws of Elizabeth still remaining 
in force, all the promises of toleration, made by the present 
king, went for nothing; and lest this act had not been of itself 
sufficiently severe, another, entitled, The Five Mile Act, ba- 
nished the non-conformists five miles from any city, borough, 
or church, in which they had officiated; which placed these un- 
fortunate men away from their friends, who might have aided 
them in their great distress. The penalty was fifty pounds, 
and six months imprisonment; to which another grievous act 
was added, prohibiting them to meet, for the worship of God, 
at any place except in the episcopal churches, and according to 
the liturgy and practice of the church of England. Notwith- 
standing of all the evils threatened in this cruel, impolitic, and 
intolerant act, Dr. Burgess, and a great cloud of worthy, learn- 
ed, pious, and orthodox divines, as Mr Locke calls them, 
amounting to about two thousand, according to Hume, in one day 
relinquished their cures, and, to the astonishment of the court, 
sacrificed their interest to their religious tenets. Rapin says, 
" St. Bartholomew-day being come, on which the act of uni- 
formity was to take place, two thousand presbyterian ministers 
chose rather to quit their livings than submit to the conditions 
of this act. It was expected that a division would have taken 
place amongst them, and that a great number would have chose 
rather to conform to the church of England, than see them- 
selves reduced to beggary. It was not, therefore, without ex- 
treme surprise that they were all seen to stand out, not so much 
as one suffering himself .to be tempted into conformity." 

Upon his ejection, Dr. Burgess retired to his house at Wat- 
ford, where he lived privately, and was reduced to great straits, 
and had his latter days much embittered with affliction. He 



454 MEMOIR OF CORNELIUS BURGESS. 

had a curious collection of the different editions of the book of 
common prayer, which he presented to the public library at 
Oxford a few weeks before his death. He died at Watford in 
1665, and was buried in the middle of the church of Watford, 
on the 9th of June that year. 

Mr Calamy says, " Dr. Burgess was a complete master of 
the liturgical controversy, and that of church government." 
Neal says, "He was esteemed a very learned and judicious di- 
vine, and we have abundant evidence in his writings, that he 
had learned to comfort himself under his afflictions, with the 
solacing consideration, that neither poverty or peril, life or 
death, could separate him from the love of Christ, for whom he 
had suffered the loss of all things." 

His writings are, 1. A Chain of Graces, drawn out at length, 
for a Reformation of Manners; or a brief Treatise of Virtue, 
Knowledge, Temperance, Patience, Godliness, Brotherly-kind- 
ness, and Charity. — 2. New Discovery of Personal Tythes, or 
the tenth part of a Man's clear gain proved due, both, in con- 
science and also by the laws of the kingdom. — 3. The Fire of 
the Sanctuary newly uncovered, or a complete Tract of Zeal. 
— 4. Baptismal Regeneration of Elect Infants professed by the 
Church of England. — 5. A Sermon preached from Jeremiah i. 
5. before the House of Commons, at their Public Fast, Novem- 
ber 17th, 1640. — 6. A Sermon, preached before the House of 
Commons, November 10th, 1641, from Psalm Ixxvi. 10. — 7. 
An Humble Examination of a printed abstract of the Answers 
to Nine Reasons of the House of Commons against the Votes 
of Bishops in Parliament. — 8. The Broken Title of Episcopal 
Inheritance, or a Discovery of the Weak Reply to the Humble 
Examination of the Answer to the Nine Reasons of the House 
of Commons against the Votes of Bishops in Parliament, their 
Lordly Dignity and Civil Authority. — 9. Two Sermons, preach- 
ed to the House of Commons, from Jer. iv. 14. at two Public 
Fasts, on March 30th, 1642, and April 30th, 1645.— 10. The 
Necessity of Agreement with God, a Sermon, preached to the 
House of Peers, from Amos iii. 3. at their Fast, October 29th, 
1645. — 11. Prudent Silence, a Sermon, preached in Mercer's 
chapel, before the Lord Mayor and Citizens of London, January 
14th, 1648. — 12. No Sacrilege or Sin to Alien, or purchase 
the Lands of Bishops or others, when their offices are abolished. 
— 13. A Case concerning the Buying of Bishops' Lands, with 
the lawfulness thereof. — Beside these, according to Wood, he 
has other Sermons extant. 



455 



JOHN WHITE, M. A. 

This faithful servant of Christ was born at Stanton St. 
John in Oxfordshire, December 1575, where his father held a 
lease from New college, Oxford. He was descended from the 
Whites of Hantshire, and received his grammatical learning at 
William of Wickham's school, where, after a certain time, the 
scholars have exhibitions for prosecuting their studies in New 
college, whither he was sent, and became fellow. Mr White 
having served a probation of two years, took his degrees in arts, 
and entering into holy orders, became a frequent preacher in 
and about Oxford. In 1606 he left his college, and, probably 
about the same time, became rector of Trinity parish in Dor- 
chester, in the county of Dorset. Deeply impressed with the 
importance of the charge laid upon him, he now entered upon 
the arduous duties of his office with resolution and alacrity, and 
discharged them with much care and fidelity. His great dili- 
gence as a pastor, in rebuking, admonishing, instructing, and 
comforting his people, left but few vacant hours for his own re- 
creation. In the course of his ministry he expounded the 
scriptures all over, and had proceeded in a second exposition 
halfway before his death; and for solidity and perspicuity, was 
accounted an excellent commentator. Dr. Manton says, " He 
excelled in giving a solid exposition of the text, and in deduc- 
ing pertinent and practical remarks;" in confirmation of which, 
he refers his readers to his commentary on the first three chap- 
ters of Genesis. Mr White's settlement at Dorchester afforded 
him an opportunity of doing much good, not merely to the souls, 
but also to the bodies of his parishioners. His exertions for 
the interests of mankind, both spiritual and temporal, were 
great and incessant, highly becoming the character of a genuine 
christian. With this view, he studied, planned, and, with a 
degree of activity seldom equalled, exerted all his power and 
influence in carrying them into execution; so that, with the bless- 
ing of God on his laudable endeavours, the inhabitants of Dor- 
chester came in for an ample share of the fruit of his humane 
and beneficent exertions. Dr. Fuller says, " That by his wis- 
dom the town of Dorchester was much enriched. He instructed 
them in knowledge; and knowledge produced piety; piety sti- 
mulated industry; and industry soon procured them plenty. A 
beggar could not then be seen in the town, all the able poor 
were put to work, and the impotent supported from the profits 
of a public brewery and other collections. Industry, sobriety, 
and religion, flourished in Dorchester under his pastoral and 
economical care, and derived a powerful influence from his ac- 



456 MEMOIR OF 

tive life and pious example. He considered economy and in- 
dustry the well-springs of wealth; and from these a plentiful 
supply for the public necessities was soon obtained. Indolence 
and idleness are no less troublesome to their possessors, than 
burdensome and disgusting to society. Mr White therefore 
suggested plans for improving the circumstances of the poor, 
and heartily concurred with others in their execution. To pro- 
vide for the impotent poor, and compel those who are able to 
labour for their own sustenance, has been the general object of 
all poor laws. In the intricate science of political economy, 
however, there appears to be nothing more difficult than to re- 
lieve poverty without encouraging idleness. Dr. Fuller farther 
observes concerning this illustrious individual, " That he had a 
powerful command of his passions, and that he could also com- 
mand the purses of his parishioners, and wind them up to what- 
ever pitch he pleased upon important occasions : That he was 
free from covetousness, and charitable almost to a fault : That 
he had a patriarchal influence both in Old and New England." 

At the beginning of the long parliament, when many patrio- 
tic subjects appeared for the rights of the nation, Mr White as- 
sociated with them, and his influence and distinguished abilities 
greatly contributed to promote the cause of civil and religious 
liberty; which enraged the royalists against him to that degree, 
that prince Rupert sent a party of his horse to Dorchester, who 
plundered his house, and carried off his whole library; on which 
he retired to London, and was for some time appointed minister 
of Savoy parish. In 1643 he was chosen one of the assembly 
of divines, and one of the assessors to that assembly, where he 
was highly esteemed. Wood says, "He took the covenant, 
and sitting often with the assembly, shewed himself one of the 
most moderate and learned amongst them; and soon after did, 
by order, not only succeed Dr. Featley in the rectory of Lam- 
beth, thence ejected, but had his library to keep, and use, till 
such time as Dr. Featley could recover Mr White's from prince 
Rupert's soldiers." 

When both Houses of Parliament, with the Scottish commis- 
sioners, and the assembly of divines, were convened in Marga- 
ret's church, Westminster, on the 25th of September 1643, to 
subscribe the solemn league and covenant, Mr White opened 
that great solemnity by prayer. After him, Mr Henderson and 
Mr Nye spoke in justification of the measure they were met to 
consummate, shewing, from scripture precedents, the advantage 
the church had, on former occasions, received from such sacred 
associations. Mr Henderson, in name of the Scotch commission, 
declaring, " That the estates of Scotland had resolved to assist the 
English parliament in carrying on the designs of the covenant." 



jeHN WHITE. 457 

Upon which Mr Nye read it from the pulpit, with an audible 
voice, article by article, each person standing uncovered, with 
his right hand bare, and lifted up towards heaven. Dr. Gouge 
concluded the solemn business with prayer; after which the 
House of Commons went up into the chancel, and subscribed 
their names in one roll of parchment, and the assembly in ano- 
ther — in both of which the covenant was fairly transcribed. 
One proposition discussed by the assembly was, " That Jesus 
Christ, as King of his church, hath himself appointed a church 
government distinct from the civil magistrate." This proposi- 
tion was strongly opposed by the erastian party. Our divine 
subscribed it, when the learned Lightfoot entered his dissent. 

Mr White married the sister of Dr. Burgess, by whom he 
had four sons, which survived their father. When the commo- 
tions of the nation ceased, and his work at London was finish- 
ed, he returned to Dorchester; after which, in 1647, he was de- 
signed warden of New College after the death of Dr. Pink; but 
Mr Wood supposes he had refused the omce; which is highly 
probable, being by this time far advanced in years. Having 
thus served his generation with incessant labour, ardent zeal, 
and distinguished ability, he slept with his fathers, July 21st, 
1648. His remains were interred in the porch of St. Peter's 
church, Dorchester, a chapel belonging to Trinity church. 

His works are, 1. The Troubles of Jerusalem's Restoration, 
or the Church's Reformation; a Sermon preached before the 
House of Lords, 26th Nov. 1645.— 2. The Way to the Tree of 
Life, or Directions for the Profitable Reading of the Scriptures. 
— 3. A Sermon, preached at the General Assizes at Dorches- 
ter, the 7th March 1632. — 4. A Commentary on the three first 
chapters of the Book of Genesis. 



JOHN ARROWSMITH, D. D. 

This learned divine was born at Gatehead, near Newcas- 
tle-upon-Tyne, March 29th, 1602, had his education at St. 
John's college, Cambridge, and was afterwards chosen fellow 
of Katherine-hall, in the same university. He was chosen one 
of the university preachers, and preached for some time at Lynn, 
an ancient sea-port in the county of Norfolk; from which he 
was called to sit in the assembly of divines, which he constantly 
attended. He was one of several members who drew up the 
assembly's catechism, and was greatly distinguished for his 
learning, piety, and talents. He afterwards preached at St, 
Margaret's, Iron-monger-lane, London. April 11th, 1644, he 
was elected master of St, John's college, when Dr. Beale was 
17 3 m 



458 MEMOIR OF 

ejected by the earl of Manchester, in pursuance of an ordinance 
of parliament for regulating and reforming the university of 
Cambridge. During the same year he was one of the commit- 
tee of learned divines, which united with a committee of the 
lords and commons, to treat with the commissioners of the 
church of Scotland concerning an agreement in matters of re- 
ligion. He took his doctor's degree in 1647, and was chosen 
vice-chancellor of the university the same year. In 1651 he 
was elected regius professor of divinity on the death of Dr. 
Collins, and was, at the same time, presented to the rectory of 
Somersham. In 1653 he was chosen master of Trinity college, 
Cambridge, on the death of Dr. Hill; and, in 1665, he resigned 
his professorship, and was appointed one of the triers, also one 
of the preachers before the parliament. He was a man of un- 
spotted reputation, of great learning and piety, an acute dispu- 
tant, a judicious divine, and an excellent author; as appears 
from the learned productions of his pen. He died in Feb. 1659, 
aged fifty-seven years, and his remains were interred in Trinity 
college chapel. 

"Mr Neal observes (says Dr. Gray), that the learning and 
piety of Dr. Arrowsmith were unexceptional; but had he added, 
that he was an eminent preacher, and famed for his flowers of 
rhetoric, I could have helped him to some passages in support 
of such an assertion ; for example, you have endeavoured, says 
he, to fence this vineyard (meaning the church) with a settled 
militia, to gather out the malignants as stones, to plant it with 
choice vines, men of piety and truth, to build the towers of a 
powerful ministry in the midst of it, and to make a wine-press 
for the squeezing of malignants. Again, it is the main work of 
the spirit of grace to negociate a match betwixt the Lord Jesus 
and the coy souls of sinful men. It is a spiritual affection, that 
hath the Holy Ghost for its father, faith for its mother, prayer 
for its midwife, and the word of God for its nurse. After some 
overtures of a match in the reign of Henry VIII., says he, the 
reformed church in this kingdom was solemnly married to 
Christ, when the sceptre was swayed by his son Edward the 
VI. That godly young prince, as became the friend of the 
bridegroom, greatly rejoiced because of the bridegroom's voice. 
The famous nine-and- thirty articles of her confession, then 
framed, were evident signs of her being with child, and that a 
thorough reformation was then conceived; though but conceiv- 
ed; many and sore were the breeding fits she conflicted with 
during the reign of Mary, even such as gave great cause to fear 
she would have miscarried." Mr Arrowsmith was firm and zealous 
in his attachment to the cause of truth, from which no worldly 
allurements could shake his faith, or move his confidence; a man 



JOHN ARROW3MITH. 459 

of a thousand; those who best knew him gave testimony to his dili- 
gence, his zeal, and integrity. His public ministry discovered 
his great dexterity, sound judgment, admirable learning, and 
indefatigable labours. His soul aspired to more than his weak 
and sickly body could possibly perform. 

His works are, 1. The Covenant Avenging Sword Brandish- 
ed, in a Sermon before the House of Commons, at their late 
Solemn Fast, January 25th, 1643. — 2. England's Ebenezer, or 
Stone of Help; a Sermon preached before both Houses of Par- 
liament, at Christ's church, London, March 12th, 1645. — 3. 
A Chain of Principles. — 4. God-man. — 5. A Great Wonder in 
Heaven. — 6. Tracta Sacra. 



SIMON ASHE. 

This staunch puritan divine was educated in Emanuel 
college, Cambridge, with a view to the church, and began his 
ministry, by preaching the gospel in Staffordshire, in the vici- 
nity of those famous ministers of Christ, Mr John Ball, Mr 
Langley, and Mr Robert Nicolls, with whom he cultivated a 
particular acquaintance. Mr Ashe was pleasantly situated 
amongst his brethren, with whom he enjoyed a most agreeable 
intercourse; but not conforming to the ceremonies of the church, 
and particularly for refusing to read from the pulpit the Book 
of Sports, he was deprived of his living, and removed from his 
flock. This Book of Sports was first published by king James, 
May 24th, 1618, setting forth, " That for his good people's law- 
ful recreation, his majesty's pleasure was, that after the end of 
divine service they should not be disturbed, letted, or discou- 
raged, from any lawful recreations ; such as dancing either of 
men or women, archery for men, leaping, vaulting, or any such 
harmless recreations; nor from having May-games, Whitsun- 
ales, or morris-dances, or setting up of May-poles, or other 
sports therewith used; so as the same may be had in due and 
convenient time, without impediment of divine service; and 
that women should have leave to carry rushes for decorating 
the churches, according to their old custom. Withal, prohibit- 
ing all unlawful games to be used on Sunday only, as bear- 
baiting, bull-baiting, interludes, and at all times bowling, in the 
meaner sort of people, by law prohibited." Charles I. having 
imbibed his father's principles, and following his destructive 
policy, revived, enlarged, and keenly urged this his father's de= 
claration. It was ordered to be published in all parish churches ; 
but whether by the minister, or some other person, was left to 
the discretion of the bishop; and Laud, the inveterate enemy 



460 MEMOIR OF 

of all puritans and non-conformists, well aware that the 
most strict and conscientious amongst them would stand out 
against such a disgraceful order, considered this the most likely 
method of getting clear of men whom he so heartily abhorred, 
and of whom he was not without his fears. In order, therefore, 
that he might find a plausible pretext against these men, the 
clergy were ordered to read this unparalleled piece of prelatical 
effrontery from their respective pulpits. Some poor clergymen 
strained their consciences, and obeyed the bishops; others read 
it with this observation, that in obedience to the ecclesiastic 
order, they had read the declaration of the king; but on purpose 
to perform their duty to the King of kings, and to the flock 
committed to their pastoral care, they must also read his decla- 
ration on this grave subject; so turning up the fourth command- 
ment, read it aloud, saying, " The former is the declared or- 
ders of the chief magistrate of this realm, whom his subjects are 
in duty bound to love and obey; but the latter is the command, 
the imperative command, of him by whom kings reign; and 
seeing the two orders are diametrically opposed the one to the 
other, whether it be right, in this case, to obey God or man, 
judge ye." Others of the clergy put this disagreeable task into 
the hands of their curates; but a great many refused to read 
it on any terms whatever — of this number was Mr Ashe. By 
this base stratagem Laud deprived the nation of the services of 
her most zealous, pious, and laborious ministers, who were 
forthwith driven from their flocks, excommunicated, persecut- 
ed by the court of high commission, and not a few of them 
forced to leave their native land, for the deadly sin of not pub- 
lishing, from their pulpits, the permission of the king to break 
through the command of God. " It is questionable (says Ful- 
ler) whether the sufferings of these men procured them more 
of the public commiseration, or the conduct of their persecutors, 
that of their hatred and animosity." 

After some time, Mr Ashe obtained liberty, or was connived 
at preaching in an empty church at Wroxhall, under the pro- 
tection of Sir John Burgoyne; and in Warwickshire, under the 
lord Brook, to whom he was chaplain. Upon commencement 
of the civil war he became chaplain to the earl of Manchester, 
and had a considerable share in the Cambridge visitation, for- 
merly noticed. He was at the battle of Edgehill, which first 
effectually broke the peace between the king and parliament. 
This battle was fought on the 23d of October 1642, being Sab- 
bath. The army of parliament, with which Mr Ashe was con- 
nected, commanded by the earl of Essex, intended to rest, and 
observe the Sabbath at Kineton, a small market town about 
three miles from Edgehill. But while the soldiers were going 



SIMON ASHE. 46l 

to church, information arrived of the approach of the royal ar- 
my; on which they advanced to meet them. Mr Ashe was 
chosen a member of the assembly of divines, and Mr Neal has 
marked him as a constant attendant at that assembly. He was 
minister of Michael Basing-shaw, London, and afterward of St. 
Austin's, London, where he died. He was one of the Corn- 
hill lecturers, and one who subscribed the vindication of the 
London ministers from the charge of being promoters of the 
king's death. He was a strong opposer of the new common- 
wealth under Oliver Cromwell, and had a considerable hand 
in the restoring of Charles II. 

Dr. Walker, among other charges, severely censures him for 
a sermon, preached before the House of Commons, from Psalm 
ix. 9. for his invectives against the governors and government 
of the church. But Dr. Calamy, after perusing said sermon, 
says, " He found it to be a very grave and serious discourse, in 
no respect unbecoming either the preacher or the audience." 
Among many serious grievances, Mr Ashe takes notice, in this 
sermon, of the subscription urged upon all graduates in both 
universities, and upon all men entering the ministry, which he 
considers a heavy oppression, calculated to drive many promis- 
ing scholars from theological studies, and to ensnare the con- 
sciences of others. He reprobates the pressing of useless cere- 
monies in the worship of God, upon pain of suspension, depri- 
vation, and excommunication, whereby ministers and their fa- 
milies were exposed to great hardships, and congregations de- 
prived of their pastors. The conniving at a scandalous minis- 
try, the great abuse of oaths, particularly that of matriculation, 
the abase of church censures, and the opposition made by the 
ruling ecclesiastics to piety and the power of godliness, by their 
derision and persecution of such as give evidence of seriousness 
and a holy conversation. The charges are no doubt heavy: but, 
at the same time, they were lamentably true. Mr Ashe must 
therefore be acquitted as blameless. Other charges were 
brought against him by Dr. Walker; which Dr. Calamy has 
largely and most judiciously refuted. 

Mr Ashe had a good estate, and a liberal heart. He was 
hospitable without ostentation. His house was much frequent- 
ed, and himself greatly esteemed. He was a christian of pri- 
mitive simplicity, a puritan of the original stamp, distinguish- 
ed by a holy life and a cheerful spirit; and it is well known 3 
how desirable an acquisition it is to have a religious friend, 
whose cheerfulness contributes to enliven the exercises of social 
piety. 

Dr. Calamy, who visited him in his last illness, says, ' ; That 
he complained much, that ministers, when met together, disr 



462 MEMOIR OF 

course so little about Christ and the concerns of another world, 
resolving, that if it pleased God to restore him, he would en- 
deavour, on such occasions, to be more fruitful than he had ever 
yet been, exhorting me, and other ministers, to preach Christ 
on all occasions; Christ crucified, our Advocate, and the propi- 
tiation for our sins. It is one thing, said he, to preach, or speak 
about Christ and heaven, and quite another thing to feel the 
consolations of Christ and of heaven as / now do" At ano- 
ther time he said, " The comforts of a holy life are real and 
soul-supporting. I feel their reality; and you may learn, by my 
case, that it is not in vain to serve our God." His lively and 
edifying conversation, with those who visited him in his sick- 
ness, was useful and very encouraging, and he closed a life of 
labour and activity, in the cause of God and his church, with 
a pious, edifying, and comfortable death, on the 23d of August 
1662, a short time before the fatal Bartholomew-day, when the 
puritans were ejected from their churches. 

Dr. Calamy, who had the happiness of being intimately ac- 
quainted with Mr Ashe during the space of about twenty years, 
in London, said, at his funeral, " I can freely and clearly pro- 
fess, and that with a sorrowful heart, that I, and many others, 
have lost a real wise and godly friend, brother, and fellow-la- 
bourer in the Lord. The church has lost an eminent member 
and a choice pillar; and this city has lost an ancient, faithful, 
and painful minister; and the less sensible the city is of this 
loss, the greater it is. The ministerial excellencies of many 
ministers were collected together, and concentrated in the per- 
son of Simon Ashe. He was a Bezaleel in God's tabernacle, a 
master-builder, an old disciple, whom many ministers, and 
other good christians, called Father; and I believe many lament 
over him as the king did over Elisha; for he lived desired, and 
died lamented." Samuel Rutherford, one of the Scotch com- 
missioners, calls him the gracious and pious Mr Ashe. 

His works are, 1. The best Refuge for the most Oppressed; 
a Sermon preached before the House of Commons, March 30th, 
1642. In this celebrated sermon, speaking of the oppression 
which the church and people of God have to meet with in the 
world, mentions the English prelates as great oppressors, both 
in the church and commonwealth. " What country (says he), 
what city, what town, what village, yea, what family, I had al- 
most said, what individual, has not, in one kind or other, in one 
degree or other, at one time or other, been the object of their op- 
pression ? They and their officers, by citations, censures, exac- 
tions, and other unjust proceedings, have been universal oppres- 
sors. How many wealthy men have they crushed by their cru- 
elty ! How many poor families have they ruined by their ty-? 



SIMON ASHE, 463 

ranny ! and I beseech you to consider, whether the most pious 
among preachers and people have not met with the hardest 
measures from their heavy hands. Alas ! alas ! how many 
faithful ministers have they silenced ! how many gracious chris- 
tians have they excommunicated ! and how many congregations 
have they starved or dissolved in this kingdom ! For the proof 
of all this, and of more than all this, I appeal to the unparallel- 
ed number of petitions presented to this present parliament." — 
2. Good Courage Discovered and Encouraged; a Sermon preach- 
ed before the commanders of the military forces of London, 
17th May, 1642.— 3. The Church Sinking, saved by Christ; 
a Sermon preached before the House of Lords, February 26th, 
1644, at their Public Fast. — 4. Religious Covenanting Direct- 
ed, and Covenant-keeping Persuaded; a Sermon preached be- 
fore the Lord Mayor, Sheriffs, Aldermen, and the rest of the 
Common Council of London, on the 14th January 1645. — 
5. God's Incomparable Goodness to Israel Unfolded and Ap- 
plied; a Sermon preached before the Commons, April 28th, 
1647, at their Fast. — 6. Christ the Riches of the Gospel, and 
the hope of the Christian. — 7. Living Loves between Christ 
and the Dying Christian; a Sermon preached at the funeral of 
Jeremiah Whitaker. He is also said to have preached and pub- 
lished funeral Sermons for Mr Ralph Robinson, Mr Robert 
Strange, Mr Thomas Gataker, Mr Richard Vines, and the 
countess of Manchester. He wrote also several Prefaces for 
the works of others, and published the Power of Godliness, a 
Treatise on the Covenant of Grace, by the famous John Ball, 
who eutrusted him with his manuscripts. 



THOMAS BAYLIE, B. D. 

Mr Baylie was born in Wiltshire. He was entered of 
St. Alban's Hall, Oxford, 1600, being then eighteen years of 
age. In 1602 he was elected Demy of Magdalen college, and 
perpetual fellow of that house in 1611, being then master of 
arts. Some time after this he became rector of Maningford 
Crucis, near Marlborough, in his own county. In the year 
1621 he was admitted to the reading of the sentences; from 
which time forward he warmly attached himself to the puritan 
party? and was ready to sacrifice every other consideration to 
what he conceived to be the truths of God; and accordingly 
avowed his sentiments by an open declaration. He was chosen 
one of the assembly of divines, became a zealous covenanter, 
and an indefatigable preacher. He succeeded Dr. George 
Morely, a royalist, in the rich rectory of Mildenhall, Wiltshire, 



464 MEMOIR OF THOMAS BAYLIE. 

which he held till the restoration, when he was ejected by th* 
act of uniformity. Upon his expulsion he retired to Marlbo- 
rough, and had a private congregation, where he died in 1663, 
aged eighty-one years, and was buried in the church of St. 
Peter in that place. Upon his death, his conventicle, accord- 
ing to Wood, was carried on by another as zealous as himself. 
Both Walker and Wood say he was a fifth monarchy man; but 
Dr. Calamy assures us that this was not the cause of his ejec^ 
tion, but his non-conforming sentiments. 

His works are, 1. De Merito Mortis Christi, et Modo Con- 
yersionis Diatribae duse.— 2. Concio ad Clerum Habita in Tem- 
plo B. ; and, according to Wood, some other Sermons. 



JOHN BOND. 

Mr Bond was the son of Dennis Bond of Dorchester in 
the county of Dorset, a woollen draper in that place. While 
in this situation, he was a constant hearer, and a great admirer, 
of John White, minister, and frequently called the patriarch, of 
Dorchester. He was elected burgess, along with Daniel Hollis, 
for the borough of Dorchester, of which he was then alderman, 
to serve in the long parliament, and accounted a very active man. 
His son John, the subject of the present memoir, was educated 
under the Rev. Mr John White above-mentioned, and seems to 
have been much benefited in his youth by the faithful ministry 
of this distinguished servant of God. Having received a suita- 
ble and well-directed education at home, he was sent to Cam- 
bridge, and placed, Wood says, he thinks, in St. John's college, 
where he took the degrees of bachelor of civil law. Afterwards 
he became lecturer in the city of Exeter, the capital of Devon- 
shire. He was a zealous puritan, who freely declared his sen- 
timents, and suffered, accordingly, with cheerfulness, enduring 
all things for the gospel's sake. He was a zealous covenanter; 
and in his writings shews a strong attachment to the work of 
reformation. " The Lord (says he, in one of his sermons be- 
fore the House), at this time, requires a reformation of religion 
in almost all its departments, in doctrine, worship, and govern- 
ment ; and expects you will promote the late solemn league and 
covenant, that triple cable of the three kingdoms, by which the 
anchor of our hope is fastened, that three-fold cord that binds 
the three kingdoms to one another and to God." He was after- 
wards minister of the Savoy, London, and became one of the 
superadded members of the assembly of divines. He was some- 
times called to preach before the long parliament; and some of 
his sermons were published, and are still extant. On the 11th 



MEMOIR OF JOHN BOND. 4>65 

December 1645, he was made master of the hospital caWed the 
Savoy. He was appointed also master of Trinity-hall, Cam- 
bridge, which Mr John Selden had refused. In 1654 he was 
appointed an assistant to the commissioners of Middlesex and 
Westminster, for the ejection of ignorant and scandalous mini- 
sters and school-masters. Wood says, " He lived at Savoy, he 
believes, till the restoration, when he retired to Sutton in Dor- 
setshire, and died there, about 1680." 

His works are, 1. A Door of Hope; also, Holy and Loyal 
Activity; being twoTreatises, delivered in several Sermons preach- 
ed at Exeter. — 2. Salvation in a Mystery; or, a Perspective Glass 
for England's Case, a Sermon, preached before the Commons, 
March 27th 1644. — 3. A Dawning in the West, a Thanksgiv- 
ing Sermon, delivered to the Commons, 22d August 1645. — 
4. Job in the West, two Sermons, for two Public Fasts, for the 
five associated western counties. — 5. A Thanksgiving Sermon, 
preached before the House of Commons, 19th July 1648.— 6. 
A Sermon, entitled Grapes among Thorns, preached to the 
Commons. 



OLIVER BOWLES, B. D. 

This venerable divine was fellow of Queen's eollege, Cam= 
bridge, where it is probable he had received his education. He 
was an excellent scholar, a celebrated tutor, and a man of exem- 
plary piety. The famous Dr. Preston was one of his pupils. 
On leaving the university, he became rector of Luton in Bed- 
fordshire, about the beginning of 1607, where he continued up- 
wards of fifty years. He was chosen one of the assembly of 
divines, which he constantly attended, and was eminently ser- 
viceable in that theological convention. The assembly having 
petitioned the parliament for a fast, previous to their proceed- 
ing to business, Mr Bowles and Mr Matthew Newcomen were 
appointed to preach before both houses and the assembly, and 
both their sermons were ordered to be published. Mr Bowies' 
sermon is entitled, Zeal for the House of God Quickened; or, 
a Sermon, preached before the assembly of lords, commons, and 
divines, at their solemn Fast, July 7th, 1643, in Abbey church, 
Westminster, expressing the eminency of zeal required in church 
reformers. He was likewise author of a work, entitled De 
Pastore Evangelico. Dr. Calamy says it is an excellent work; 
it was published by his son, and dedicated to the earl of Man- 
chester. He says, moreover, "that during the time of ram- 
pant episcopacy, it was not suffered to creep out, not for any 
evil in it, but because some men do not care for being put upon 
17 3 n 



466 MEMOIR OF OLIVER BOWLES. 

too much work." Though Mr Bowles survived the restoration 
many years, it does not appear that he either conformed or was 
ejected. On account of his great age, and for some other causes, 
it is believed he left off preaching about 1659. He died on the 
5th of September 1674, supposed to have been above ninety 
years of age. 

Mr Bowles had twelve sons. Edward, one of them, a dis- 
tinguished puritan divine, was ejected at the restoration. 

Mr Timothy Cruso was favoured with the friendship and 
counsel of this aged divine, and attended him in his last illness. 
On the day prior to his death, Mr Bowles said to him, " have a 
care of yourself, Timothy, in this evil world, and be not so 
taken up with its vanities as to lose the substance for the sha- 
dow. Seeing you have resolved on the work of the ministry, 
I vyould advise you never to trouble your hearers with useless 
or contending notions, but rather to preach upon practicals, 
that you may set them on performing the duties of a holy life. 
I would not any longer live that idle and unserviceable life that 
I have lately done." " When 1 took my last leave of him (says 
Mr Cruso), he said, 'Farewell, Timothy; if I see thee no more 
in this world, I hope we shall meet in heaven, which is far bet- 
ter : Only remember to keep a good conscience, and walk close- 
ly with God.' This he twice repeated, with a strong and im- 
pressive emphasis." 



WILLIAM BRIDGE, A. M. 

Mr Bridge was a student in Cambridge thirteen years, 
and some time fellow of Emanuel college in that university. 
He was first appointed minister in Essex, where he continued 
about five years, after which he was called to the city of Nor- 
wich and parish of St. George, Tomland. In which situation 
he continued till silenced by bishop Wren for his non-conform- 
ity, in 1637; after which he was excommunicated, and retired 
to Holland, where he became pastor to the English church at 
Rotterdam, of which Jeremiah Borroughs was preacher. 

About this period the puritans, especially in the diocese of 
Norfolk, were grievously maltreated and persecuted by bishop 
Wren, for not complying with his visitation articles, a string of 
the most foolish and oppressive regulations that any part of the 
christian world had ever been pestered with. This book con- 
tained one hundred and thirty-nine articles, comprehending 
eight hundred and ninety-seven questions, some of them most 
insignificant, the greater part highly superstitious, and num- 
bers of them such as could never be answered. For the 
gratification of the curious ? we here insert a specimen of this 



MEMOIR OF WILLIAM BRIDGE. 467 

strange book. Is your communion-table so placed within *the 
chancel as the canon directs ? Doth your minister pray for the 
king with his whole title ? Doth he pray for the archbishops 
and bishops ? Doth he observe all the orders, rites, and cere- 
monies prescribed in the book of common prayer in admini- 
stering the sacrament ? Doth he receive the sacrament kneel- 
ing himself, and administer it to none but such as kneel ? Doth 
your minister baptize with the sign of the cross ? Doth he 
wear the surplice while he is reading prayers and administer- 
ing the sacraments ? Doth he, on rogation-days, use the pream- 
bulation round the parish ? Hath your minister read the book 
of sports in his church or chapel? Doth he use conceived 
prayers before or after sermon ? Are the church-yards conse- 
crated ? Are the graves dug east and west ? Do your parish- 
ioners, at going in and out of the church, do reverence toward 
the chancel? Do they kneel at confession, stand up at the 
creed, and bow at the glorious name of Jesus ? &c. These ques- 
tions were intended as so many traps to catch the puritans, and 
answered the purpose so well, that in less than two years and 
four months fifty worthy ministers of the gospel were suspend- 
ed, silenced, or otherwise censured, for not obeying one or 
other of these articles; among whom were Mr Ashe, Mr Wil- 
liam Bridge, Jeremiah Borroughs, Mr Greenhill, and Edmund 
Calamy. A complaint was afterwards brought before parliament 
against Wren, stating, that while bishop of Norwich, by his op- 
pressions, innovations, and the requisition of certain oaths, he 
had compelled above fifty families of that city to leave the king- 
dom; and that, by his rigorous severities, many of his majesty's 
subjects, to the number of three thousand, had removed them- 
selves, their families, and estates, to Holland, where they had 
set up their manufactories, to the great prejudice of the trade 
of the kingdom. 

Bishop Laud, in giving the annual account of his diocese to 
the king for 1636, says, "Mr Bridge, of Norwich, rather than 
conform, hath left his lecture and two cures, and retired to Hol- 
land." Let him go, we are well rid of him, said the king in his 
note on this article. But receiving encouragement from the 
long parliament, as many others, in like circumstances, did 
about this time, he returned to England, in 1642, and was fre-^ 
quently called to preach before the parliament. He was soon 
after chosen minister of Great Yarmouth in the county of 
Norfolk, where he continued his useful labours till Bartholo- 
mew's day, when he was ejected, with the rest of his brethren, 
in 1662. Ml- Bridge, after returning from Holland, was ap- 
pointed a member of the assembly of divines. He was of the 
independent persuasion, and, of course, one of the dissenting 



468 MEMOIR OF 

brethren in that assembly, who opposed the presbyterians on 
the three following propositions : 1. That many congregations 
may be under the government of one presbytery. 2. That there 
is a subordination of assemblies or courts : And, 3. That one con- 
gregation ought not to assume the sole power of ordination, if 
it can at all associate with other congregations. On these pro- 
positions there was an arduous, long, and well-contested de- 
bate. Speaking on this subject, Mr Baillie, who was present, 
says, " the independents urged that they might be heard in the 
negative. Here (says he) they spent us many of twenty long 
sessions. Goodwin took most of the speech upon himself; yet 
they divided their arguments amongst them, and gave the man- 
agement of them by turns to Bridge, Borroughs, Nye, Simpson, 
and Caryl. Truly, if the cause was good, the men have abun- 
dance of learning, wit, eloquence, and, above all, boldness and 
stiffness to make it out; but when they had wearied themselves, 
and over wearied us all, we found the most they had to say 
against presbytery was but curious idle niceties, and that they 
could bring forward nothing conclusive. They entered their 
dissent to these propositions, and only these, on the assembly." 
Mr Bridge continued minister of Yarmouth till cast out by 
the act of uniformity; when he and his brethren gave the world 
an honourable specimen of their candour and sincerity in the 
cause of genuine Christianity, by the sacrifice they made for 
what they were firmly persuaded were the truths of Christ, 
Mr Bridge says, in a sermon he preached at Westminster, 1641, 
" Of all the reformed churches in the world, England has borne 
the name, and worn the crown, for the life and power of godli- 
ness; yet give me leave, with grief of heart and sadness of spi- 
rit, to make a challenge, What reformed church is there in 
the world, that ever knew so many suspended ministers as Eng- 
land? Speak, O Sun, whether, in all thy travels, from the one 
end of heaven to the other, thou didst ever see so many silenced 
ministers as thou hast done here?" After his ejection, Mr 
Bridge had an opportunity of preaching sometimes at Clapham 
in Surrey. Wood says, that being silenced on his majesty's 
return, he carried on his cause in conventicles till about the 
time of his death. He died at Yarmouth, 12th of March, 1670, 
aged seventy years. According to Neal, he was a good scholar, 
and had a well stocked library; a hard student, who rose every 
morning, winter and summer, at four o'clock; he was an excel- 
lent preacher, a candid and very charitable man, % who did much 
good by his ministry. 

His works are, 1. Babylon's Downfall. — 2. The Saints' Hid- 
ing Place in the time of God's anger. — 3. The Great Gospel 
Mystery. — 4. Satan's Power to Tempt, and Christ's Love and 



WILLIAM BRIDGE. 469 

Care of his People under Temptation. — 5. On Thankfulness. — 
6. Grace for Grace. — 7. The Actings of Faith through natural 
impossibilities. — 8. Evangelical Repentance. — 9. The inbeing 
of Christ in all Believers. — 10. The Woman of Canaan. — 11. 
Christ's coming is at our Midnight. — 12. A Vindication of 
Gospel Ordinances. — 13. Grace and Love beyond Gifts. — 14. 
Scripture Light the surest Light. — 15. Christ in Travail, and 
his assurance of Issue. — 16. Lifting up for the Downcast. — 
17. Sin against the Holy Ghost. — 18. The false Apostle tried 
and discovered. — 19. Sins of Infirmity. — 20. The Good and 
the Means of Establishment. — 21. The great things Faith can 
do. — 22. The great things Faith can suffer. He has, beside 
these, ten Sermons on God's return to the deserted Soul, ten 
Sermons respecting Christ and the Covenant, eight Sermons on 
good and bad Company. 



ANTHONY BURGESS, A.M. 

This laborious and much distinguished puritan divine, 
was the son of a learned schoolmaster at Watford in Hartford- 
shire, and received his education in St. John's college, . Cam- 
bridge, from which he was chosen to a fellowship in Emanuel 
college, merely for his merit as a scholar. He was much es- 
teemed in the university for his piety and learning, and like- 
wise for his superior tutorship and powers of disputation. Mr 
Burgess afterwards became pastor of the church of Sutton Cold- 
field in Warwickshire; where his exemplary life, and conscien- 
tious labours, soon procured him an excellent reputation; and 
here he continued, diligently discharging the duties of his office, 
till the civil war had commenced, that the royal army, by plun- 
dering, insulting, and otherwise maltreating and threatening 
him and his family, forced them to retire to Coventry for 
safety. The officers of the king's army were chiefly men of 
dissolute lives, who made a jest of religion; and the privates, 
having no regular pay, lived for the most part by plundering 
the people. When they took possession of a town, they rifled 
the houses of all who were accounted puritans; nor were they 
nice in their discriminations when occasions were pressing. Mr 
Baxter says, " That after the battle of Edgehill, more than thirty 
worthy divines had retired to Coventry for safety from the 
soldiers and the fury of the rabble. The popular preachers, and 
persons of pious and godly lives, were the greatest sufferers; 
while such as prayed in their families, were heard singing psalms 
or repeating sermons, were accounted rebels, and most severely 
handled." At the time that Mr Burgess fled to the garrison of 
Coventry, it was full of men of this description who had a lecture 



470 MEMOIR OF 

every morning, in which service he took his regular course. 
About this time he was called to sit in the assembly of divines 
at Westminster, where he was generally and greatly esteemed 
for his solid learning and judicious deportment. He was re- 
peatedly called to preach before the parliament, at their fasts 
and other public occasions. He was for some time preacher at 
Lawrence-jury, and earnestly solicited, by the London ministers, 
to give a course of lectures against the antinomian errors of these 
times; which sermons were afterwards published at the request 
of the learned body at whose solicitation they had been given. 
" We, the president and fellows of Sion college, London, ear- 
nestly desire Mr Anthony Burgess to publish in print his ela- 
borate and judicious lectures upon the law and the covenants, 
against the antinomian errors of these times, which, at our en- 
treaty, he hath preached, and for which we give him hearty 
thanks, so that the kingdom at large, as well as this city, may 
reap the benefits of those his learned labours. Dated at Sion 
college, June 11th 1646, at a general meeting of the ministers 
of London there assembled. Arthur Jackson, President, in 
name and by appointment of the rest." 

In 1538, one John Agricola, a native of Eisleben, made a de- 
claration of his sentiments, wherein he maintained, that the law 
was neither fit to be proposed to the people as a rule of life, nor 
to be used in the church as a mean of instruction; and that the 
gospel alone ought to be inculcated and explained, both in the 
churches and in the schools. The followers of this man were 
called antinomians, from their opposition to the law. They 
hold, that the law has neither use nor obligation under the 
economy of grace; and the tenor of their doctrines evidently su- 
percede the necessity of good works and a holy life. These an- 
tinomian tenets were greatly prevalent in England during a 
part of the seventeenth century. Dr. Crisp, who was born at 
London in 1600, was an enthusiastic asserter of these opinions; 
and the publication of his Posthumous Works occasioned much 
disputation in the country. But Mr Burgess unmasked and 
refuted them, in the most satisfactory manner, by his lectures 
at Laurence-jury. Having finished his labours at London, he 
returned to discharge the duties of his pastoral office at Sutton 
Coldfield, where he remained till 1662, that he was ejected by 
the act of conformity; after which he spent the remainder 
of his days in great comfort, piety, and respect. Before he left 
his place, the new bishop of Coventry and Litchfield sent for 
him, as he also did for several other worthy divines of his dio- 
cese, hoping to gain them over to the prelatical order; and 
though he failed in his design, he was so candid as to express 
his good opinion concerning them. Of Mr Burgess he said, 



ANTHONY BURGESS* 471 

" That he was fit to fill a professor's chair in an university." 
Fuller says, in his account of Emanuel college, " Among the 
learned writers of this college I have omitted many who are 
still alive, as Mr Anthony Burgess, the profitable expounder of 
the much mistaken nature of the two covenants." Dr. Wilkins 
enrolls him among the most eminent of the English divines for 
sermons and practical divinity. Dr. Cotton Mather says, in 
his Student and Preacher, " Of A. Burgess, I may say, he has 
wrote for thee excellent things." 

His works are, 1. The Difficulties of, and Encouragements 
to, Reformation. — 2. Judgments Removed where Judgment is 
Executed. — 3. The Magistrate's Commission from Heaven. — 
4. Rome's Cruelty and Apostacy. — 5. The Reformation of the 
Church more to be endeavoured than that of the Common- 
wealth. — 6. Public Affections Pressed. — 7. Vindicse Legis, or 
a Vindication of the Moral Law and the Covenants, from the 
errors of Papists, Arminians, Socinians, and more especially 
Antinomians. — 8. The True Doctrine of Justification Asserted 
and Vindicated. — 9. A Treatise on Justification. — 10. Spiri- 
tual Refining. — 11, One hundred and forty-five Expository 
Sermons. — 12. The Doctrine of Original Sin. — 13. The Scrip- 
ture Directory for Church Officers and People.— 14. Com- 
mentary on the whole first chapter of 2 Cor. 



RICHARD BYFIELD, M. A. 

Mr Byfield was born in Worcestershire about 1599. He 
was educated at Queen's college, Oxford, where, having taken 
his degree in arts, he left the college, and was for some time 
curate or lecturer of Isleworth. After this he became rector of 
Long-ditton, in the county of Surrey; where he laboured, with 
unremitting assiduity, in teaching his people the truths of the 
gospel, and enforcing the duties thence arising. He was a 
zealous reformer, a strenuous opposer of all superstition in the 
worship of God, and an able and courageous defender of the 
morality of the Sabbath. He refused to read the Book of 
Sports, and seems to have been suspended and sequestered for 
his disobedience, for four years and four weeks. When the 
authority of the king, and the power of the bishops, were great- 
ly on the decline, he was chosen one of the assembly of divines, 
of which he was a very respectable member, and a zealous co- 
venanter. In 1654 he was appointed an assistant to the com- 
missioners of Surrey, for ejecting scandalous ministers and 
school-masters. A difference once took place between him and 
his patron, Sir John Evalyn, concerning the reparation of the 



472 MEMOIR OF RICHARD BYFIELD. 

church. Mr Byfield complained to Oliver Cromwell, the pro- 
tector, who brought them together, with the view of endeavour- 
ing to effect a reconciliation. Sir John charged Mr Byfield 
with reflecting upon him in his sermons. Mr Byfield solemnly 
declared, that he had never intended the least reflection against 
him. On which Oliver, turning round to Sir John, said, " I am 
afraid, sir, there is something indeed amiss. The word of God 
is powerful and penetrating, and has found you out — search 
your ways." He spoke these words so pathetically, and with 
tears, that all present also wept. The protector succeeded in 
restoring them to their former friendship; and to bind it the 
more securely, he ordered his secretary to pay Sir John one 
hundred pounds towards the repairs of the church. 

Mr Byfield was the oldest minister in the county in 1662, 
when he was ejected by the act of uniformity. After this he 
retired to Mortlake, a pleasant village on the banks of the 
Thames, a few miles from London, where he spent the residue 
of his days, with a view to his approaching dissolution. In the 
meantime, he preached, for the most part, twice every Sabbath 
in his own house, and did so the last Sabbath of his life. The 
next day he intimated to his friends, that he considered his de- 
parture was at hand, and gave many pious exhortations to his 
wife and children, relative to their conduct in life, and their 
preparations for death; particularly he admonished his children 
to live in love one with another, that the God of love and of 
peace might dwell among them. On the Thursday following, 
a friend desiring his opinion on Rev. viii. 1., he spoke on the 
verse for a considerable time, when, rising from his seat, he 
was taken with an apoplectic fit, in which he expired in 1664, 
aged sixty-seven years. 

His works are, 1. The Light of Faith, and the Way of Holi- 
ness. — 2. The Doctrine of the Sabbath Vindicated. — 3. The 
Power of the Christ of God. — 4. Zion's Answer to the Ambas- 
sadors of the Nation. — 5. Temple Defilers Defiled. — 6. The 
Glory of the Gospel without prejudice to the Law. — 7. The 
real Way to Good Works. — 8. A Treatise on Charity. 



EDMUND CALAMY, B. D. 

Mr Calamy was born in London in 1600, and educated 
at Pembroke-hall, in the university of Cambridge, where _ he 
took his degree of arts in 1619, and that of divinity in 1632. 
By an early discovery of his opposition to arminianism, his fel- 
lowship was prevented, even when he was justly entitled, both 
by his standing, his learning, and his unblameable conversation. 



MEMOIR OF EDMUND CALAMY. 473 

The prelatical rulers in the church of England were strongly 
inclined to the doctrines of Arminius at this time, and nothing 
could stand more in the way of preferment, to a person 
of Mr Calamy's sentiments, than his puhlicly asserting and 
defending them; so that, considering his warm attachment to 
the Calvinistic doctrines, and his hostilities to those of the ar- 
minian party, now basking in the beams of royal favour, Mr 
Calamy had but little to expect. At last, however, he was 
elected tanquam socius, a title peculiar to Pembroke-hall; which, 
though attended with less emolument, was at least as honour- 
able as that of fellow. Some time after this Mr Calamy's stu- 
dious and religious character recommended him to Dr. Felton, 
the pious and learned bishop of Ely, who made him his domes- 
tic chaplain ; and while residing in the family, paid him singu- 
lar marks of affectionate regard, and at last presented him to 
the vicarage of Mary's in Swaffham-prior, in his own neigh- 
bourhood, where he became singularly useful to his flock. Still, 
however, he continued in the family till the bishop's death, 
when he was chosen one of the lecturers of Edmund's Bury, 
in the county of Suffolk, where Jeremiah Burroughs was his 
fellow-labourer. In this place he continued about ten years. 
Some writers have said, that during his residence in this place 
he was a strict conformist; but his own declaration, and that of 
others, affirm the contrary. It is a certain fact, that Mr Cala- 
my, with about thirty other worthy ministers, were driven out 
of bishop Wren's diocese, for not conforming to the Visitation 
Articles and the unhallowed Book of Sports. With these abo- 
minations he could not comply; and being in favour with the 
earl of Essex, he preferred him to the living of Richford, a mar- 
ket-town in the Marches of Essex, a rectory of considerable 
value; but it proved ruinous to his health, and brought on a diz- 
ziness of the head, that never wholly forsook him. 

Upon the death of Dr. Stoughton he was chosen minister of 
Mary Aldermanbury, London, in 1639. Here he soon acquir- 
ed a very distinguished reputation, and made a conspicuous ap- 
pearance, by the active part he took in the important controver- 
sy respecting church government, then greatly agitated. 

In 1640, he was employed, with several other puritan divines, 
in composing that famous book, entitled, Smectymnws; which 
is said to have given the first fatal blow to episcopacy in Eng- 
land. This strange title is made out of the first letters of the 
names of its various authors, viz. Stephen Marshall, Edmund 
Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William 
Spurston. This treatise is allowed, on all hands, to have been 
well written. It was done in answer to a book, entitled, An 
Humble Remonstrance, written by the bishop of Exeter. This 

17 3o 



474 MEMOIR OF 

learned prelate attempted a confutation of Sraectymnws; to 
which the presbyterians replied. After this, the far-famed 
Usher, bishop of Armagh, attacked it; but was repulsed by 
John Milton, the celebrated author of Paradise Lost. The ac- 
tivity, the profound knowledge, integrity, and intrepidity, 
evinced by Mr Calamy, had raised his reputation, particularly 
among the presbyterians, to the first rank of literary fame. He 
was appointed, by the House of Lords, a member of the sub- 
committee for accommodating ecclesiastical affairs; and shortly 
after this he was appointed a member of the assembly of divines. 
He was an active and zealous man in all their proceedings, and 
much distinguished, both for his learning and moderation, in 
the assembly. 

Mr Calamy was one of the most popular preachers in Lon- 
don, and frequently appointed to preach before the long parlia- 
ment; for which the prelatical party have treated him with un- 
merited abuse. He was the first, however, who, before the 
committee of parliament, defended the proposition, that a 
bishop and presbyter, according to the scriptures, are one office 
under different appellations. His interest and influence in the 
city of London was very extensive, and he preached to a nu- 
merous and highly respectable audience, composed of the most 
eminent citizens, and many persons of quality. He was one of 
the London ministers who declared against the proceedings of 
the army, and the violent measures that brought on the king's 
death; an event which he strongly deprecated. 

In Cromwell's time Calamy lived as quietly as possible; but 
sometimes opposed the protector's measures. It is said of 
Cromwell, that having a wish to put the crown on his own 
head, he sent for some of the principal divines of the city, as if 
he made it a matter of conscience, and that he wanted their ad- 
vice. Mr Calamy was one of the party, and boldly opposed 
the project of Cromwell's single government, offering to prove 
that the thing was not only unlawful, but that it was also imprac- 
ticable. To the first of these Cromwell readily replied, " That 
the safety of the people was the supreme law; but, pray, Mr 
Calamy, said he, how is it impracticable ?" "Because (says 
Mr Calamy) the nation will be against you, nine out of ten at 
least." " But (says Cromwell) what if I wrest the sword from 
the nine, and put it in the hands of the tenth — Will not that do 
the business ?" In 1659, Mr Calamy concurred with the earl of 
Mansfield, and other great men, in persuading general Monk to 
bring in the king, that an end might be put to the public con- 
fusions. He preached before the parliament the day before 
they voted the king's restoration to the throne, and was one of 
those divines that were sent over to Holland on that business; 



EDMUND CALAMY. 4tf5 

but he had, soon after, cause to regret the hand he had in that 
unhappy transaction, particularly that he was received without 
a previous treaty. 

On the restoration of Charles, Mr Calamy was encouraged 
to hope, that considerable favour and indulgence, both to him- 
self and his brethren, would still be granted. In June, the 
same year, he was sworn chaplain in ordinary to his majesty, 
with several other presbyterian ministers; but none of them 
preached more than once before the king in that capacity. 
About this time Mr Calamy was often with his majesty at earl 
Mansfield, the chamberlain's lodgings, and other places, and 
had the royal countenance on all occasions. He had a princi- 
pal hand in drawing up the proposals, at that time presented to 
the king, respecting church government; which led the way to 
the Savoy conference. He was also concerned in the concessions 
made by the declaration of October 25th, the same year; and 
being one of the commissioners, he was employed, with others, 
in drawing up the exceptions against the liturgy, as also the re- 
ply to the reasons of the episcopal divines against these excep- 
tions of the presbyterians. In 1661 he was one of those chosen 
by the London ministers to represent them in the convocation ; 
but was not permitted to sit in that assembly. He attended 
the several meetings at the Savoy, where he did every thing in 
his power to effect an accommodation; but without the least 
effect. 

Mr Calamy preached his farewell sermon on the 17th of 
August 16G2, a week before the act of uniformity took effect. 
Having consulted with his great friends at court, the following 
petition was drawn up, and presented to the king, signed by a 
considerable number of the London ministers : 

" May it please your excellent majesty.— Upon former ex- 
perience of your majesty's tenderness and indulgence to your 
obedient and loyal subjects, in which number we can clearly 
reckon ourselves, we, some of the ministers within your city 
of London, who, by the late act of uniformity, are likely to be 
cast out of all public service in the ministry, because we can- 
not, in conscience, conform in all things required in said act, 
have taken the boldness humbly to cast ourselves and our con- 
cernments at your majesty's feet, desiring that, of your princely 
wisdom and compassion, you would take some effectual course, 
whereby we may be continued in the exercise of our ministry, 
to teach your people their duty to God and your majesty; and 
we doubt not, but by our dutiful and peaceable carriage therein, 
we shall render ourselves not altogether unworthy of so great a 
favour." This petition was presented by Mr Calamy, Dr ? 
Manton, Dr. Bates, and others, on the third day after the act 



476 MEMOIR OF 

became in force. Mr Calamy made a speech on the occasion, 
stating, that those of his persuasion were ready to contest the 
point of fidelity to his majesty with any description of men in 
England: That they little expected to be dealt with in the 
manner they had been; and that they were now come before his 
majesty, imploring his interference in their behalf, as the last 
application they should make. The king promised to consider 
their request, and the day following the matter was fully 
debated in council, in presence of his majesty, who was 
pleased to say, he intended an indulgence if it was at all possi- 
ble. The friends of the silenced ministers in the council, 
whose hopes had been flattered with a* variety of specious pro- 
mises, were now permitted freely to state their reasons for not 
putting the act in execution; and they reasoned most strenuous- 
ly on the impolicy and absurdity of the measure, and the fatal 
effects, to the nation at large, that must necessarily attend its 
execution. But Dr. Shelden, bishop of London, in an animat- 
ed speech, declared, " That it was now too late to think of sus- 
pending a law which had occupied so much of the time and the 
wisdom of the legislature in enacting — A law, in obedience to 
which he had already ejected such of his clergy as would not 
comply with it; and were they now to be restored, after thus 
being exasperated, he must, in that case, expect to feel the 
weight of their resentment; and in place of maintaining his 
episcopal authority amongst them, be subjected to their scorn 
and animosity, being thus countenanced by the court. Besides, 
should the sacred authority of this law be now suspended, it 
would render the legislature both ridiculous and contemptible; 
and should the pressing importunity of such disaffected people 
be considered a sufficient reason why they should be humoured 
on this occasion, it would establish a precedent upon which all 
future malcontents would build their hopes, and maintain their 
claims to similar indulgence : — the obvious consequence of which 
would be, convulsions, and never-ceasing distractions, both in 
church and state." It was, on these grounds, carried that no 
indulgence whatever should be granted. Mr Calamy was of- 
fered a bishoprick; which he refused, because he could not ob- 
tain it on the terms of the king's declaration. He preserved his 
temper and moderation after his ejection, and lived much re- 
tired; but going to Aldermanbury church one day as a hearer, 
and the clergyman appointed to preacli failing to come forward; 
to gratify the wishes of the people who were assembled, and 
prevent a disappointment, he condescended to give them a dis- 
course, though unpremeditated. For this he was shut up in 
Newgate prison, by warrant from the lord mayor, as a violator 
of the act of uniformity, the great Diana of that tyrannical period. 



EDMUND CALAMY. 477 

A popish lady, passing through the city, found it almost impos- 
sible to proceed through Newgate Street for the number of 
coaches in waiting. Surprised at this incident, curiosity led 
her to inquire into the occasion. Some of the by-standers in- 
formed her, that an ejected minister, greatly beloved in the city, 
had been imprisoned for preaching a single sermon, and his 
friends were calling to pay him a visit in prison. This infor- 
mation so struck the lady, that she waited on the king at White- 
hall, and told him the whole affair, expressing her apprehension, 
that such steps might alienate the affection of the city from his 
majesty. It was partly owing to this, that Mr Calamy was 
soon released by an express order from the king. This cir- 
cumstance being afterwards complained of in the House of 
Commons, it was signified that his release was occasioned by 
a deficiency of the act itself, and not by the sole orders of his 
majesty. The following entry was therefore made on the jour- 
nal of the House: "Die Jovis, 1662 — 63. Upon complaint 
made to this House, that Mr Calamy, being committed to pri- 
son upon breach of the act of uniformity, was discharged upon 
pretence of some defect in the act — Resolved, That it be referred 
to a committee to look into the act of uniformity as to the mat- 
ter in question, and see whether the same be defective, and 
wherein." And shortly after this, a committee was appointed 
to bring in the reasons of the House for advising the king to 
grant no toleration, with an address to his majesty; which pav- 
ed the way for all that unqualified severity, and tyrannical pro- 
cedure, that followed during this and the succeeding reign. 

Mr Calamy lived to see the dreadful fire of London in 1666. 
This awful conflagration is said to have over-run 373 acres of 
ground within the walls, and to have burned down 13,200 
houses, and 89 parish churches, beside chapels, and that only 
11 parishes within the walls were left standing. This dreadful 
spectacle is said to have broken Mr Cal amy's heart. He was 
driven through the ruins of the city in a coach, and viewing the 
dreadful solitude, and far-spread desolation, he went home with 
a heavy heart, and never after left his chamber; but died in less 
than a month, October 1666, in the sixty-seventh year of his 
age. 

His works are not numerous. He was one of the authors of 
Smectymnws, formerly mentioned. He was also concerned in 
drawing up the Vindication of the Presbyterial Church Govern- 
ment and Ministry, and Jus Divinum Ministerii Evangelici et 
Anglicani. He has also several sermons extant — 1. England's 
Looking-glass. — 2. The Nobleman's pattern of true and real 
Thankfulness. — 3. God's free mercy to England. — 4. England's 
Antidote against the Plague of Civil War. — 5. An Indictment 



478 MEMOIR OF WILLIAM CARTER. 

against England because of her Self-murdering Divisions. 6. 

The great danger of Covenant refusing and Covenant breaking. 
—7. The Door of Truth Opened.— 8. The Saint's Rest.— 9. 
The Fragility of the Body.— 10. The Monster of sinful self- 
seeking Anatomized. — 11. A Sermon at the Funeral of the 
Earl of Warwick. — 12. A Sermon at the Funeral of Mr Ashe. 
—13. The Godly Man's City of Refuge in the day of his dis- 
tress, containing five Sermons. — Mr Calamy's oldest son was 
ejected at the same time with his father; and his grand-son, a 
dissenting divine of great eminence, is well known by his 
learned works. 



WILLIAM CARTER. 

This laborious divine was born in 1605, and educated in 
the university of Cambridge; after leaving which, he became 
preacher in London, where he was exceeding popular. In 1643 
he was appointed licenser of the press, and, during the same 
year, chosen one of the assembly of divines, where he was a 
constant attendant. After some time he joined with the inde- 
pendents, and was one of the dissenting brethren in the assem- 
bly, where he discovered much learning and moderation in sup- 
porting their particular opinions. In 1654 he was appointed 
one of the triers of public preachers; in which capacity Dr. 
Walker has attempted to lessen his reputation, as well as that 
of other very learned and otherwise worthy divines. He had 
frequent offers of preferment, but, dissatisfied with the parochial 
discipline of these times, he declined accepting any of them. 
He was, nevertheless, indefatigable in his ministerial labours, 
preaching twice every Sabbath to two large congregations in 
the city, beside weekly lectures, and other occasional services. 
He was one of the preachers before the parliament; and his in- 
cessant and arduous exertions wasted his strength, and hasten- 
ed his death. He died about the month of June 1658, aged 
fifty-three years. He was a good scholar, an admired preacher, 
and a man of most exemplary piety. His pious and compas- 
sionate soul mourned over the vast numbers of those thought- 
less persons who had no concern for themselves, and he longed 
and laboured to spread the knowledge of God and religion 
amongst them till the end of his life. His relations, by pur- 
chasing bishops' lands, became great sufferers after the restora- 
tion, when prelacy came to be re-established; but he himself 
did not live to see the evil that came upon either his relatives 
or the nation at large. He was author of a Sermon, entitled 
Israel's Peace with God Benjamin's Overthrow, preached be- 



MEMOIR OF JOSEPH CARYL. 479 

fore the Commons, July 27th, 1642; and another, entitled Light 
in Darkness, preached also before the House of Commons, 
November 24th, 1647. 



JOSEPH CARYL. 

This eminent divine was born in London, 1602, and edu- 
cated in Exeter college, Oxford. Here, by means of an excellent 
tutor, and ardent application, he soon became famous for his 
disputations. In 1627 he took his degree in arts; and enter- 
ing into holy orders, he exercised his function, for some time, 
in and about Oxford. After this he became preacher to the 
honourable society of Lincoln's-inn, where he continued for 
several years, and acquired a good reputation. In 1642, and 
afterwards, Mr Caryl was frequently called to preach before 
the long parliament; and being now become conspicuous and 
eminently distinguished for his abilities and puritanical princi- 
ples, he was chosen a member of the assembly of divines; in 
which, as in every other station, he evinced much learning, 
piety, and moderation. He was also, about this time, appoint- 
ed licenser to the theological department of the press. In 1645 
he became pastor to the church of Magnus, near London bridge; 
in which situation he laboured several years with great dili- 
gence and remarkable success. He was considered one of the 
best expositors of scripture in that period, and an excellent and 
very pathetic preacher of the gospel. He was appointed, along 
with Mr Stephen Marshall, as chaplain to the commissioners 
who were sent by parliament to the king at Newcastle, to ne- 
gociate an accommodation of their differences. They accom- 
panied the king and the commissioners from Newcastle to 
Holmby House in Northamptonshire, where his majesty con- 
tinued some time without any of his chaplains. Caryl and 
Marshall, at the desire of the commissioners, according to 
Wood, offered their services to preach before his majesty in the 
absence of his chaplains; but their services were not accepted, 
not even to say grace; which his majesty himself said with an 
audible voice. In September 1648, Mr Caryl was one of those 
divines who accompanied the commissioners of parliament to 
the Isle of Wight to negociate a treaty of peace. This com- 
mission consisted of five noblemen, ten commoners, and four 
divines, to assist them in their religious debates, Mr Caryl, 
Marshall, Vines, and Dr. Seaman. In September 1650, Mr 
Caryl and Dr. John Owen were appointed by parliament to 
travel into Scotland to attend Oliver Cromwell, who desired 
their company and service. In 1653 he was appointed one of 



480 MEMOIR OF 

the triers for the approbation of ministers to fill the vacant 
churches; and the following year he was constituted an assist- 
ant to the commissioners for ejecting scandalous, ignorant, 
and otherwise insufficient ministers and school-masters. In 
1659 he was sent into Scotland, to give general Monk an ac- 
count of the state of affairs in England, with a letter from Dr. 
Owen, expressing their apprehensions of danger to their religi- 
ous liberties on the event of a revolution of the government. 
On the 14th of March following, according to Wood, he was 
appointed, by act of parliament, together with Edward Rey- 
nolds and others, to approve of, and admit, ministers in the 
presbyterian way; but that the order of the House being nulled 
by the restoration of king Charles, he retired to his flock at 
Magnus, where he continued till ejected by the act of unifor- 
mity, 1662; on which mournful occasion he preached his fare- 
well sermon from Rev. iii. 4. " They shall walk with me in 
white, for they are worthy." " The design of this discourse 
(says Mr Caryl) is to delineate the character, and set forth the 
honour and happiness, of those he had described in a former dis- 
course, who, like the few names in Sardis, had not defiled their 
garments by conforming to a sinful and degenerate world. 
They shall walk with Christ. They shall walk with him in 
white garments; denoting their state of justification, but parti- 
cularly the purity, integrity, and persevering intrepidity of their 
character, honourable in the sight both of God and man. Their 
white robes likewise denote the inward peace, and self-approv- 
ing satisfaction, that springs from the testimony of their y own 
consciences from the witness of the Spirit, and the well-ground- 
ed hope of eternal glory; in consequence of which they may 
rejoice, nay, glory in tribulation, and smile at the impotent ma- 
lignity of their persecutors and oppressors. What Christ said 
concerning the lily, may, with great propriety, be applied to 
those who keep themselves pure and unspotted from the sins 
and superstitions of a degenerate age : " Solomon, in all his 
glory, was not arrayed like one of those. 5 ' To such may the 
words of the preacher be addressed, ' Go thy way, eat thy 
bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart, for 
God now accepteth thy sacrifice.' What though the world 
give thee the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, clothe 
thee in mourning, and cause thee to prophesy in sackcloth; yet 
be of good comfort, and rejoice in this, that they cannot bereave 
thee of the fruits of thy labour, of that massy crown that awaits 
all those who fight, and overcome by the blood of the Lamb 
and the word of their testimony. The blessed martyrs, though 
they were cast into black and dreary dungeons, still preserved 
their white garments from spot or stain; and though they have 



JOSEPH CARYL. 481 

been dressed, many of them, so as to make them look like 
devils, they have been filled with peace and joy unspeakable. 
But this walking with Christ in white has also an ultimate re- 
spect to the heavenly glory, of which Christ's transfiguration 
was a type, when all those, who have washed their robes, and 
made them white in the blood of the Lamb, shall stand before 
the throne, arrayed in white, with palms in their hands; and 
the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, 
and lead them to living fountains of water, where the voice of 
the oppressor, nor the wailings of the oppressed, shall no more 
be heard, but God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. 
Let it therefore be your greatest care to avoid whatever tends 
to sully your garments, to stain the purity of your consciences 
and character as friends and disciples of Jesus Christ; and 
know for a truth, that whoever amongst you neglects this 
watchful anxiety over their own hearts and lives, shall walk in 
black, and be attired in robes of mourning. I have endeavour- 
ed, while amongst you, to press these important considerations 
on your minds; and should I have no more opportunities of this 
kind, it is the desire of my heart, and shall be my prayer to 
God, that we may all meet at the right hand of our Judge and 
our Redeemer, where all our prayers will be answered, and all 
our unworthy services graciously rewarded, with glory, honour, 
and immortality." After his ejection, Mr Caryl continued to 
live in London, and soon gathered a congregation in the vicini- 
ty of London bridge, to whom he preached as the times would 
permit; and his congregation so much increased, that at the 
time of his death, eleven years after his expulsion, he left one 
hundred and thirty-six communicants. He died at his house in 
Bury Street, London, universally lamented, in February 1673, 
and in the seventy-first year of his age. 

The following account of Mr Caryl's death, given in a letter 
written by Mr Henry Dorney, and addressed to his brother, 
will probably be acceptable to the pious reader : " That famous 
and laborious minister of Christ, Mr Joseph Caryl, your ancient 
friend and companion, has departed this life, aged seventy-one 
years. His death is greatly lamented by the people of God 
throughout this city. About the beginning of his sickness I 
was with him, and he inquired concerning you as he was wont 
to do. Perceiving him to be weakly, though he did not then 
keep his chamber, I desired, while he was yet alive, to remem- 
ber you in his prayers; which motion he cheerfully embraced. 
I visited him again about three days before his death. He told 
me, as I understood him, for being extremely weak, and past all 
hopes of life, his voice was low; that he had not forgotten his 
promise to me in your behalf. I think it good to mention this 

18 3 p 



482 MEMOIR OF 

circumstance, in order to provoke you to all seriousness with 
regard to your own soul, the eternal welfare of which lay so 
much at the heart of this eminent servant of Christ. His la- 
bours were great, his studies incessant, and his whole conversa- 
tion without spot or blemish. His charity, faith, wisdom, and 
zeal, had a fragrant smell among the churches and servants of 
Christ, by whom his loss will be long lamented. His sickness, 
though painful, was borne with patience, joy, and peace in be- 
lieving; so that he parted with time, and entered the harbour of 
eternity under the full sail of desire, and was wafted into port 
by a gentle breeze of divine consolation. When drawing near 
the close of life, he desired his friends to forbear speaking to 
him, that he might retire within himself; which time, they per- 
ceived, he spent in prayer, often lifting up his hands a little. 
His friends, observing that his hands had ceased moving, drew 
near, and found he had silently departed from them, leaving 
many a sorrowful heart behind." Wood calls him a learned 
and zealous non-conformist. Dr. Calamy says, " He had uni- 
versally the character of a learned man." Neal and Palmer 
say, " That he was a man of great learning, piety, and modera- 
tion, a character which his writings abundantly manifest." 
The Oxford historian informs us, " That several elegies were 
written on him after his death, two or three of which he had 
seen." The summer after Mr Caryl's death, his congregation 
made choice of Dr. John Owen for their pastor, and united 
with those formerly under his charge and superintendance, 
among whom were several persons of rank in the army. In 
this united society, Dr. Owen was succeeded by the very learn- 
ed Mr David Clarkson, whose successor was Dr. Chauncey; 
after whom they made choice of the late celebrated Dr. Isaac 
Watts, for whom they built a new meeting-house in Berry 
Street, near St. Mary Axe. 

His works are, 1. The Works of Ephesus. — 2. David's Prayer 
for Solomon. — 3. The Nature of a Sacred Covenant, and 
the duty of such as engage therein. — 4. The Saint's Thankful 
Acclamation at Christ's Resumption of his great Power, and 
the Initials of his Kingdom. — 5. The arraignment of Unbelief 
as the grand cause of our National Non-establishment. — 6. The 
present Duty and endeavour of the Saints. — 7. Heaven and 
Earth embracing, or God and Man approximating. — 8. Joy 
out-joyed. — 9. England's Plus Ultra, both of Duties required 
and Mercies hoped for. — 10. An Exposition, with Practical 
Observations, upon the Book of Job, with several other Ser- 
mons. — 1 1. The Nature and Principle of Love as the end of 
the Commandment; being some of his last Sermons published 
after his death. He had also a hand in a book, entitled, An 



THOMAS CASE. 483 

English Greek Lexicon, containing the derivation of all the 
words used in the New Testament. 



THOMAS CASE, A. M. 

Mr Case was born in the county of Kent. His father was 
minister of Boxley in that county, and distinguished both for 
his parts and piety. His son Thomas was the object of his pe- 
culiar care, on whom he bestowed an excellent education in 
early life. He gave signal proofs of a pious disposition, and 
very considerable ingenuity, even in his childhood. We are in- 
formed, that he was an early convert, and that his conversion 
began with prayer when he was only six years of age. He was 
put to school first at Canterbury, and afterwards at Merchant 
Taylor's in London; where he continued, till his father, meeting 
with troubles, was obliged to take him home, where he gave 
him all the instruction in the arts and languages which his cir- 
cumstances would permit, and in due time had him entered 
student at Christ church in the university of Oxford, in the 
year 1616, being then seventeen years of age. Here his appli- 
cation and improvement were such, that he was elected unani- 
mously, by the dean and canons, a student of that House, where 
he remained till about 1625, having, prior to this, taken his de- 
gree in arts. Being now in some measure fitted for the work 
of the ministry, he commenced preacher for some time in these 
parts, according to Wood, and afterward in Kent, at or near 
the place of his birth. By the pressing importunity of an inti- 
mate and very affectionate friend in Norfolk, he was prevailed 
upon to reside some time with him in that county. Soon after 
this he was called to the exercise of his ministry at Erphing- 
ham, a town also in the county of Norfolk, where he remained 
eight or ten years. Here he preached twice every Sabbath, 
and was indefatigable in catechising the young people, and re- 
peating in private what he had delivered in public, as numbers 
of the English divines were accustomed to do about that time. 
Thus, by his diligence in performing the respective duties of his 
office, and exhibiting before his flock a pious, peaceable, and 
exemplary walk and conversation, he obtained an excellent re- 
putation, and was highly gratified to find that his labours had 
been blessed with singular success. But the unqualified seve- 
rity exercised towards the puritans, by the rigid and whimsical 
measure of bishop Wren, drove him away from his charge. 
He was summoned before the court of high commission, and 
admitted to bail; but before he had time to make answer to the 
charges exhibited against him, that inquisitorial and tyrannical 



484 MEMOIR OF 

court was dissolved, by act of parliament, to the great joy of a 
large majority of the English nation. 

Mr Case's Norfolk friend, above mentioned, having been ap- 
pointed warden of Manchester, invited him into Lancashire, 
where, in a short time, he was presented to a place in the 
neighbouring county; but great changes and confusions soon 
after prevailing in the kingdom, some persons of quality per- 
suaded him to accompany them to London, where he was com- 
fortably settled. Here he was first chosen lecturer, and after- 
wards pastor of Magdalen church in Milk Street, London, 
where, beside his labours in the congregation, and on the Lord's 
day, he carried on a weekly lecture every Saturday; and here 
he first set up the morning exercise, which has been long con- 
tinued in the city. The occasion of its introduction was this : 
Many of the citizens of London had friends and near relations 
along with the army of the earl of Essex, and so many bills 
were sent up to the pulpit every Lord's day by their friends, 
requesting the prayers of the church for their protection, that 
the minister had neither time to read out their names, nor re- 
commend them to the protection of heaven. Some divines 
therefore moved, that it might be adviseable, under these cir- 
cumstances, to set apart an hour for this purpose every morn- 
ing, one half of which to be spent in prayer, the other devoted 
to exhortation. Mr Case began it in his church at seven o'clock 
in the morning, and when it had continued there a month, it 
was removed, by rotation, to other churches, for the conveni- 
ency of the citizens. The service was performed by different 
ministers. When the heat of the war was over, it became a 
casuistical lecture, and was carried on by the most learned di- 
vines of the time, and continued till the restoration. Their lec- 
tures were afterwards published, each of which contained the 
resolving of some case of conscience. But Mr Case's labours 
were not confined to his parish of Milk Street. He likewise 
carried on a lecture at Martin's in the Fields every Thursday for 
more than twenty years. 

Being a zealous advocate for reformation, Mr Case was no- 
minated a member of the assembly of divines, where he display- 
ed his talents with success in the service of the church. He 
was also appointed to preach before parliament, and on other 
public occasions. In his sermon, preached before the commis- 
sioners, for holding the court-martial in 1664, Mr Granger con-* 
demns the following sentence as sanguinary and reprehensible : 
" Noble sirs, imitate God, and be merciful to none who have 
sinned out of malicious wickedness" (meaning the royalists). " It 
is painful to think, says he, that so venerable and amiable a man 
should suffer himself to be so far transported by the fury of the 



THOMAS CASE. 485 

times, as to have tittered, but especially to have printed, such 
an unchristian sentence." In order that Mr Case may have a 
hearing before he be condemned, I shall give the reader the 
whole sentence from the sermon unmutilated, that he may judge 
for himself. It was preached from 2 Chron. xix. 6. 4 And he 
(Jehoshaphat) said to the judges, take heed what ye do, for ye 
judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the 
judgment.' In the eighteenth page of this sermon, Mr Case 
says, "Noble sirs, in your execution of judgment w^on delinquents, 
imitate God, and be merciful to none who have sinned out of ma- 
licious wickedness, Psalm lix. 5. Let not any find mercy, who, 
in this bloody quarrel, have laid the foundation of their rebellion 
and massacres in irreconcilable hatred of religion and the go- 
vernment of Christ. Those his enemies, who would not have 
him reign over them, slay them before his face — Let not them 
find mercy in your eyes, in whose eyes a whole nation, and our 
posterity, could find no pity — Spare not, but where you think 
in your conscience God would spare if he himself were on the 
bench in person — Imitate God in your justice, and imitate him 
also in your mercy — Be merciful as your heavenly Father is 
merciful." Granger makes the unqualified assertion, that he 
meant the royalists. Mr Case says, that he meant delinquents, 
whether belonging to king or parliament; and notwithstanding 
that his expressions have a very unchristian aspect, they exhibit 
the precise sense of the psalmist in the passage quoted. He 
exhorts the judges to imitate God, both in the exercise of his 
justice and his mercy. It were surely difficult to conceive 
where he could have found a better pattern of imitation. His 
mode of expressing himself, however, I have no mind to vindi- 
cate; it is coarse and indelicate, however correct, and ad- 
dressed to the passions of his auditory, upon an occasion when 
he ought more especially to have addressed their understanding 
and judgment; but the best of men have their peculiarities, 
their passions, and propensities. He, together with his breth- 
ren, had suffered great and manifold severities under bishop 
Wren. He had seen the cruel treatment of the most zealous 
and useful, while those who were the most loose and careless 
in discharging their pastoral obligations, were caressed and en- 
courged in their indolence; all which were calculated to excite 
the burning indignation of men possessed of a colder tempera- 
nient than that of Mr Case. 

He was a zealous covenanter, as appears from his sermons 
preached at taking the covenant. In his preface to these ser- 
mons, he says, " To every soul who shall enter into this holy 
league and covenant, my request is, that they would look around 
them, life and death is before them. If we break with God 



486 MEMOIR OF 

now, we have just cause to fear that God will stand to covenant 
no more with us, but will avenge the quarrel with us to our utter 
destruction. If we be sincere and faithful, this covenant will 
be a foundation of much peace, joy, glory, and security, to us 
and our seed, till the coming of Christ. He was one of those 
ministers who subscribed the two papers against the proceed- 
ings of parliament in 1648, and the bringing the king to his 
trial. He was turned out of his place in Milk Street, for re- 
fusing the engagement, vehemently urged, at this time, by 
Oliver Cromwell in name of the commonwealth. After the king's 
death, the oaths of allegiance and supremacy were changed, 
and a new oath substituted in their place. In which oath, the 
swearers engaged themselves to be true and faithful to the 
government without a king or House of Lords. Such as 
refused were declared incapable of holding any place or office 
of trust in the commonwealth; but as many of the excluded 
members of the House of Commons as received it, were re-ad- 
mitted to their seats. With the view of bringing the presby- 
terian ministers to the test, this oath, the engagement^ was 
strongly urged upon all ministers, heads of colleges and halls, 
fellows of houses, graduates, and officers in the universities. No 
minister could be admitted to any ecclesiastical living, or capa- 
ble of enjoying any preferment in the church, unless he qualified 
himself by taking the engagement in less than six months, and 
that publicly in the face of his congregation. 

Mr Baxter says, " That most of the sectarian party swallowed 
the engagement, and so did the king's okl cavaliers — very few of 
them being troubled with the disease of a scrupulous conscience: 
but the moderate episcopals and presbyterians generally refused 
it, as did Mr Case. It was not long, however, till providence 
opened another door, by which he was enabled to prosecute his 
ministerial labours. He was chosen lecturer at Aldermanbury 
and Cripplegate, where he remained till he was sent prisoner 
to the tower; where he was confined for about six months for 
being concerned in the affair for which Christopher Love suf- 
fered on Tower-hill. The matter stands thus : Upon the death 
of Charles I., the prince of Wales was proclaimed king of Scot- 
land by authority of that nation, who sent commissioners to 
the Hague to invite him into the kingdom, upon the terms of 
his renouncing popery and prelacy, and swearing the solemn 
league and covenant. The body of the English presbyterians 
acted in concert with Scotland in this important business; in 
which several of their leading divines carried on a private cor- 
respondence with the Scottish chiefs; and in place of taking the 
engagement to the present powers, called them usurpers. But 
a discovery of this confederacy caused the death of Mr Love, 
and the imprisonment of Mr Case, as above stated. 



THOMAS CASE. 487 

While confined in the tower, Mr Case made the best use of 
his time and sufferings that circumstances would permit. 
Here he meditated the substance of what he afterwards preach- 
ed, and published under the title, Correction, Instruction. After 
his release, he was invited to be lecturer at Giles in the Fields, 
near London, where he continued till the restoration, when the 
former incumbent was re-admitted. On the 14th of March 
1659, he was appointed, by parliament, one of the ministers for 
approving and admitting clergymen in the presbyterian way; 
and in the following year, he was deputed, by his brethren in 
London, with others, to wait on the king, and congratulate him 
on his restoration to the throne of his ancestors. Mr Baxter, 
one of the number, tells us, that Charles gave them very en- 
couraging promises of peace, and raised some of them to high 
expectation. He never refused them a private audience when 
they desired it; and the better to amuse and deceive them, 
while they were once waiting in the anti-chamber, he said his 
prayers with such an audible voice, in the adjoining apart- 
ment, that the ministers might hear what he said. He thank- 
ed God that he was a covenanted king; and besought the Lord 
to give him an humble, meek, and forgiving spirit, that he 
might have forbearance with his offending subjects, as he ex- 
pected forbearance from offended heaven. On hearing which, 
old Mr Case lifted up his hands to heaven, and blessed God 
who had given them a praying king. In 1661 he was one of 
the commissioners at the Savoy conference, and in 1662, eject- 
ed, with the rest of his brethren, by the act of uniformity ; but 
Wood says, " That ever after, so long as he lived, he was not 
wanting, on his part, to carry on the beloved cause in com^enti- 
cles, for which he sometimes suffered." 

St. Bartholomew's day having arrived, he preached his 
farewell sermon from Rev. ii. 5. " Remember, therefore, from 
whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works." 
" Here (says he) Christ prescribes precious physic for the heal- 
ing of this languishing church, compounded of three ingredients, 
self-reflection, holy contrition, and thorough reformation. Re- 
member what you once were, repent of what you presently are, 
and return, by a course of thorough reformation, to that height 
of piety, purity, and zeal, from which you have fallen." These 
topics he urged on his audience with uncommon pathos; and, 
in concluding his remarks on the requisite reformation he had 
been inculcating, he says, " we should also do something, by 
way of extraordinary bounty and charity, to the relief of God's 
indigent servants, in this period of extraordinary distress; and 
what I would exhort you all to do is, that you set apart some 
considerable proportion of your estates, and account it a hal- 



488 MEMOIR OF 

lowed thing dedicated to God ; a thing, which to touch, or ap- 
ply to any other purpose, were sacrilege, that you may be ready, 
on all necessary occasions, to contribute to the relief of the 
poor, whom you will find suffering in every corner of town and 
country." 

Notwithstanding the many trials and changes to Which he 
was subjected in the course of his public ministry, Mr Case en- 
joyed an uncommon share of domestic happiness, and died, in 
a good old age, on the 30th May, 1682, having been a so- 
journer through this region of tears, turmoil, and unceasing 
vicissitude, fourscore and four years. 

His works are, 1. Two Sermons, preached at Westminster 
before sundry of the House of Commons. — 2. God's waiting to 
be gracious, preached at Milk Street. — 3. The Root of Apostacy 
and Fountain of true Fortitude; a Sermon preached to the 
Commons. — 4. Jehoshaphat's Caveat to the Judges. — 5. The 
Set-backs of Reformation; a Sermon preached before the Lords. 
— 6. A Model of true Spiritual Thankfulness, preached to the 
Commons. — 7. Spiritual Whoredom, preached also to the Com- 
mons. — 8. Vanity of Vain-glory ; a funeral Sermon for Kinsmet 
Lucy, Esq. — 9. Sensuality Dissected, a Sermon to divers citizens 
of London who were born in Kent. — 10. Elijah's Abatement, 
or Corruption in the Saints. — 11. A Funeral Sermon for Mrs 
Elizabeth Scott. — 12. A Funeral Sermon for Darcy Wivil, 
Esq. — 13. The First and Last Sermon in the morning exercise 
at St. Giles. — 14. The Sanctification of the Sabbath.— 15. His 
Farewell Sermon. — 16. A Treatise of Affliction, or Correction, 
Instruction.— 17. Mount Pisgah, or a View of Heaven. 



DANIEL CAWDREY, A.M. 

Mr Cawdrey was the son of Robert Cawdrey, a non-con- 
forming minister, who, being deprived, had a hard struggle with 
the bishops, and suffered great injustice from these domineering 
ecclesiastics. His whole case was published to the world, much 
to the discredit of those concerned in these intolerant acts of 
spiritual tyranny. Daniel was the youngest of many sons. 
He was educated at Peter's House, in the university of Cam- 
bridge. We have to regret the want of information respecting 
the particulars of this divine's life. It is known, however, he 
was a distinguished minister of Christ in his time. From 4 the 
title page of his sermons, which are entitled, Humility the 
Saint's Livery, it appears that, in 1624, he was minister of Little 
Illford, in the county of Essex. He was afterward settled at Great 
Billing in Northamptonshire. Dr. Calamy says, " He was a 



DANIEL CAWDREY. 489 

man of great consideration, eminently learned, and a noted 
member of the assembly of divines. He preached sometimes 
to the members of parliament; and, on one occasion, attacked 
these seminaries of irreligion, stage plays, with uncommon se- 
verity. Amongst many other things on this subject, he said, 
" Among open scorners and revilers of religion, you may reckon 
your stage players, who have already scoffed religion out of 
countenance with thousands; you have done well to put them 
down, and shall do better if you keep them so." 

Mr Cawdrey was ejected from his living at Great Billing, 
and separated from his friends and his flock, by the act of uni- 
formity, after having laboured, for the edification of his people 
in that place, for thirty-six or thirty-seven years. From this 
place he removed into Welling-borough, where he had a 
daughter married, with whom he abode till his death; receiving 
all who came to him, and encouraging them to prosecute their 
journey heaven-ward, and not to deviate from the narrow path 
of purity and holiness of life; assuring them that their pilgrimage 
would then be pleasant, and the end of their journey incon- 
ceivably glorious. He died in 1664, aged almost seventy-six 
years. 

His works are, 1. Humility the Saints' Livery. — 2. An As- 
size Sermon at Northampton. — 3. Superstitio Superstes. — 4. 
The Good Man a Public Good. — 5. Vindicse Clavium, or a 
Vindication of the Keys in the hands of the right Owners. — 
6. Sabbatum Redivivum. — 7. A Diatribe, against Dr. Hammond 
x>n Superstition and Festivals. — 8. A Vindication of the same. 
— 9. A sober Answer to a serious Question against Mr Freman. 
— 10. A Sermon at St. Paul's. — 11. Self-examination. — 12. Fa- 
mily Reformation Promoted. — 13. Church Reformation Pro- 
moted. — 14. Bowing to, or towards, the Communion Table, 
superstitious. — 15. An Essay against Usury. — 16. The grand 
Case, with Reference to the New Conformity. 



HUMPHREY CHAMBERS, D. D. 

Mr Chambers was born in Somersetshire, and received 
his education in University college Oxford, where he became a 
commoner in 1614, aged fifteen years. After taking his de- 
gree of arts, he entered into holy orders, and in June 1623 be- 
came rector of Claverton, in his own county. Some time after 
this he took the degree of bachelor in divinity, and was es- 
teemed an orthodox divine, but soon silenced by bishop Pierce 
for preaching up the morality of the Sabbath; which, Mr Ca- 
lamy says, cost him two years trouble, imprisonment, and se- 
18 3 2 



490 MEMOIR OF 

questration. This took place in consequence of archbishop Laud 
having taken the cause into his own hand; a man who, in cases 
of tliis nature, seldom shewed either mercy or moderation. 
Mr Chambers, at this trying period, gave evidence of much pa- 
tience, exemplary fortitude, and resignation to the divine will. 
When the civil war began, he took part with the parliament, 
and maintained a man and a horse, at his own expence, in the 
defence of civil and religious liberty. He took the covenant, 
and was constituted a member of the assembly of divines, and 
sometimes preached before the parliament. Wood says he was 
minister of Stretchley in Shropshire in 1648. Soon after this 
he had the rectory of Pewsey, near Marlborough, in the county 
of Wilts, conferred on him by the earl of Pembroke. He com- 
menced doctor of divinity on the 12th April 1648, and was 
married to a daughter of Dr. Richard Brett, one of the trans- 
lators of the bible under king James in 1604. Dr. Chambers 
was appointed an assistant to the commissioners for ejecting 
scandalous, ignorant, and insufficient ministers and schoolmas- 
ters. Oliver Cromwell, with the advice of his council, publish- 
ed an ordinance under the date of August 28th, 1654, in which 
he appoints and nominates certain lay commissioners for every 
county, and joins with them ten or more of the gravest and 
most notable ministers as their assistants; and appoints any five, 
or more of them, to call before them any public preacher, lec- 
turer, parson, vicar, curate, or schoolmaster, who is, or shall 
be, reputed ignorant, scandalous, insufficient, or negligent, and 
to receive all articles or charges which may be exhibited against 
them, and to proceed in the examination and determination of 
such offences, according to certain rules laid down for that pur- 
pose. The Wiltshire commissioners accordingly summoned be- 
fore them Mr Walter Bushnell, vicar of Box, near Malmsbury, 
to answer to a charge of drunkenness, profanation of the Sab- 
bath, gaming, and disaffection to the then government. The 
vicar drew up a narrative of the proceedings of the commis- 
sioners, but did not publish it till the restoration, and even then 
the commissioners did themselves justice in a spirited reply; 
and Dr. Chambers, who was particularly reproached by Bush- 
nell, justified himself in a distinct vindication. He kept his 
place till the very day when the act of uniformity came in force; 
and having preached his farewell sermon from Psalm cxxvi. 6. 
went home, was presently taken ill, and died September 1662. 
He was buried in the church of Pewsey, without the service, 
which had just at that time been restored. His wife died 
about the same time; and through the favour of the earl of 
Pembroke, his noble friend, the family obtained permission 
to remove the household goods. 



HUMPHREY CHAMBERS, - 4Q1 

His writings are, 1. A Divine Balance in which to weigh 
Religious Fasts. — 2. Paul's sad farewell to the Ephesians. — 3. 
Motives to Peace and Love. — 4. Animadversions on Mr W. 
Dell's book, entitled the Crucified and Quickened Christian. — 
5. An Apology £or the Ministers of the county of Wilts. — 6. 
His Answer to Mr Bushnell about the proceedings of the Com- 
missioners. 



FRANCIS CHEYNELL, D. D. 

This zealous and enterprising divine was bora at Oxford 
in 1608, the place where he was educated, and became a 
fellow of Merton college in 1629. Here he resided for several 
years, and after taking his degree in arts, entered into holy 
orders, and was curate in or near Oxford for some time. 
He took the degree of bachelor of divinity, and accepted a 
living from Mr Holman near Banbury, where lie resided, 
and had a serious contest with Laud, then in the height 
of his elevation. Having spent much of his time in the col- 
lege, he had acquired a very correct and extensive knowledge 
of books, and of every thing relating to the profession of a 
clergyman of those times. His disposition was studious, and 
his spirit active and enterprising, which rendered him ex- 
tremely useful to the church in that turbulent period, and 
his personal character was fully developed by the circumstances 
with which he was surrounded. Whatever he believed, he con- 
sidered himself bound to profess, and what he professed, he was 
ready at all hazards to defend. In a sermon, preached before 
the House of Commons, he says, "whatever, upon prayer and 
meditation, the Lord has revealed by the clear texts of bis word, 
I will this day deliver unto you. though I were assured of dying 
St. John's death, or of being banished to St. John's Island for 
the same." When the civil war broke out, he took part with 
the parliament, and, in the beginning of that war, was for the 
most part along with the earl of Essex. He had a noble exte- 
rior, posvsessed great bodily strength and fearless intrepidity, 
and was truly a man of sterling valour and solid learning. An 
eminent writer says, concerning him, that "he seemed, indeed, 
to have been born a soldier, for he had an intrepidity which no 
dangers could shake, and a spirit of enterprize which no diffi- 
culty could discourage." Dr. Calamy says, that "his com- 
mands were as readily obeyed by the colonels in the army, as 
were those of the general himself." 

Mr Cheynell was a real patriot. It was his earnest and 
daily prayer that God would unite the king and parliament in 
the cause of Christ. "Lord (said he) be pleased to decide this 



492 MEMOIR OF 

calamitous controversy, and let that side prevail which most 
sincerely desires thy glory, the king's good, and the nation's 
welfare, by a happy reformation and a christian peace." Being 
now greatly distinguished by his learning, piety, and public 
services, he was chosen one of the assembly of divines in 1643. 
He preached frequently before the members of parliament, took 
the covenant, and zealously endeavoured to promote that har- 
mony it was expected to produce in the three kingdoms. He 
was chosen parson of Petworth, a town in the county of Sussex. 
He was also one of the select committee appointed to examine 
and decide on the petitions of such ministers as requested se- 
questrated livings. Mr Cheynell has been greatly blamed for 
his behaviour at the funeral of Dr. Chillingworth. The matter 
stands as follows : This Dr. Chillingworth was born and edu- 
cated at Oxford, but afterwards turning Roman catholic, he went 
to the Jesuits college at St. Omer's; where, not being thoroughly 
satisfied with some of their principles, he returned in 1631, 
embraced the religion of the church of England, and published 
a treatise, entitled The Religion of Protestants a safe way to 
Salvation. It was generally thought he was a Socinian, but 
in his last letter, at the end of his treatise, he appeared to be 
an Arian, according to Mr Neal. He served as engineer in 
Arundel castle, in the king's army, where he was taken prisoner, 
and falling sick, had the favour of being lodged in the bishop's 
house at Chichester, where he died. By the interest of Mr 
Cheynell, who attended him in his sickness, he was kindly used. 
Cheynell was desirous that he would renounce some of his dan- 
gerous tenets, and reasoned with him for that end, but could 
not prevail. He prayed with and for him while he was alive, 
but was much grieved and provoked at his obstinacy and the 
errors of his book; and at Dr. Chillingworth's interment, he 
threw a copy of his book into the grave along with its author, 
saying, " Get thee gone, thou cursed book, that hast seduced so 
many precious souls : Get thee gone, thou corrupt rotten book, 
earth to earth, dust to dust : Get thee gone into the place of 
rottenness, that thou mayest rot with thy author, and see cor- 
ruption." 

Mr Cheynell's behaviour, on this occasion, was certainly very 
unbecoming and highly offensive. His temper, however, was 
hot, his zeal ardent, and the temptation strong; besides, he was 
at times disordered in his brain. Under such circumstances, 
it is not to be wondered at should men's words or actions some- 
times appear unaccountable. He was one of those divines sent 
down by parliament to the treaty of Uxbridge. The university 
of Oxford, when it fell into the hands of parliament, was in a 
most deplorable condition, on account of the opposite opinions 



FRANCIS CHEYNELL. 493 

that prevailed regarding the contending parties in the state; 
and parliament appointed seven of their most judicious and 
popular divines to repair thither, with authority to preach in 
any pulpit in the university for six months, in order to soffen 
the spirits of the people, and give them a better opinion of the 
new order of things. Mr Cheynell was one of the seven. 
They were very diligent in discharging their appointed duties. 
They preached twice every Sunday, and held a weekly confer- 
ence every Thursday. On which occasions they proposed to 
solve such objections as might be started against the new con- 
fession of faith and discipline, and to answer any other important 
cases in divinity. The objection or ease was to be propounded 
the week before, to afford time to consider it maturely. A 
moderator was appointed to keep order, who began and ended 
with a short prayer, and the business was conducted with much 
order and gravity. Their services were, nevertheless, general- 
ly unacceptable; some ridiculed them, others slighted, and a 
few acquiesced. But finding there was no prospect of preach- 
ing Oxford into filial obedience, parliament passed an ordinance 
for a visitation, May 1st, 1647. Mr Cheynell was also appoint- 
ed one of the visitors, and afterwards made president of St. John's 
college, and Margaret professor of the university, in the room 
of Dr. Laurence. He lost both places soon after for refusing 
the new oath of allegiance. Having now taken the degree of 
doctor of divinity, he retired to Pet worth, where, Wood says, he 
continued an useful member for the covenanting cause till the 
restoration. He was ever diligent and conscientious in the dis- 
charge of his pastoral duties, and a man of unbounded liberality, 
who never increased his estate by any of his preferments. He was 
sometimes deranged in the head, as formerly noticed; but some 
years before his death he was perfectly restored to a sound mind. 
He was ejected from the rich living of Petworth by the act of 
uniformity, and afterwards lived privately in a small village 
near Preston, where he had an estate, and died at his own house 
in September 1665. 

Dr. Cheynell was strictly orthodox, and accounted a pious 
and learned divine, a man of eminent abilities, an excellent 
preacher, and a good disputant. 

His works are, 1. Zion's Memento, and God's Alarm. — 2. 
The rise, growth, and danger of Socinianism. — 3. Chilling- 
worthi Novissima. — 4. The Man of Honour described. — 5. A 
Plot for the good of Posterity. — 6. Divers Letters to Dr. Jasp. 
Mayne, concerning false Prophets. — 7. A copy of some Letters 
which passed at Oxford between him and Dr. Hammond. — 8. 
Relation of a Disputation at Oxford between Mr Cheynell and 
Mr Erbury, a Socinian. — 9. The Divine Trinity of the Father, 



4'94 ' MEMOIR OF 

Son, and Holy Spirit. — 10. A Discussion of Mr Fry's Tenets 
lately condemned in Parliament, and Socinianism proved to be 
an Unchristian Doctrine. 



THOMAS COLEMAN, M. A. 

The celebrated subject of this memoir was born in Ox- 
fordshire, and it would seem in the city of Oxford. He en- 
tered Magdalen-hall in 1615, in the seventeenth year of his 
age, where he took his degree in arts; and in due time receiving 
holy orders, entered on the ministerial work. Mr Coleman 
possessed singular talents, which a favourable combination of 
circumstances unfolded, and stimulated to a most successful ex- 
ertion, particularly in the knowledge of the Hebrew language; 
in which his proficiency was such, that he was commonly de- 
signated Rabbi Coleman. His vigorous mind, thus cultivated by 
an excellent education, his learning shed a peculiar lustre round 
his name, and he was soon preferred to the rectory of Blyton 
in Lincolnshire, where he continued till 1642, that he was forc- 
ed to withdraw to London from the persecution of the cavaliers, 
or king's party. On his arrival at London, he was preferred 
to the rectory of St. Peter's church in Cornhill; and the follow- 
ing year he was chosen one of the assembly of divines. Mr 
Wood says, " He was called to sit in the assembly chiefly on 
account of his great knowledge of the Hebrew language, and 
that he behaved modestly and learnedly in that assembly, hold- 
ing the tenets of Erastus, and was one of the chief supporters 
of that opinion." That the reader may form a correct notion 
of the doctrine of Erastus concerning church government, it 
may be necessary here to state his opinion. He maintained 
that Jesus Christ and his apostles had prescribed no particular 
form of government and discipline for the christian church, but 
had left the keys in the hands of the civil magistrate, who had 
the sole power of punishing transgressors, and of appointing 
such particular forms of church government as from time to time 
were considered most conducive to the peace and welfare of the 
commonwealth. In his view the pastoral office was merely 
persuasive : That the Lord's supper, and other ordinances of the 
gospel, were free to all : That the minister might dissuade the 
vicious and unqualified from the communion, but might not re- 
fuse it, nor inflict any kind of censure whatever, all punishment 
being reserved for the civil magistrate. The learned Dr. Light- 
foot was also a strenuous contender for this mode of discipline 
in the assembly, and some of the greatest names in the bouse 
of commons appeared on the same side, The several parties in 



THOMAS COLEMAN. 495 

this assembly, presbyterians, independents, and erastians, agreed 
that the constitution of the primitive church was the only model 
for their imitation, and that therefore it was necessary to make 
a strict inquiry into the usages of that early period. The pri- 
mitive church being considered as founded upon the model of 
the Jewish synagogues, this investigation gave Lightfoot, Cole- 
man, Shelden, and other eminent masters of Jewish learning, 
a fine opportunity to display their superior learning, and pro- 
duced uncommon interpretations of some parts of scripture. 

When committees were chosen to prepare materials for a new 
form of church government, the independents agreed with the 
presbyterians, against the erastians, that there was a certain 
form of church government laid down in the New Testament 
which was of divine institution. But when they came to the 
question, What is that form of government, and is it binding 
on all ages of the church ? Then the independents, as well as 
the erastians, opposed the presbyterians — The first holding that 
it was congregational, the latter that it was not of perpetual 
obligation. The proposition was stated thus : " That the scrip- 
ture holds forth, that many particular congregations may, and, 
by divine institution, ought to be under one presbyterial go- 
vernment." Mr Neal says, " The debate lasted thirty days : 
That the erastians did not object to presbyterial govern- 
ment as a political institution, were it established by the civil 
magistrate; but they denied the divine right." This Mr Cole- 
man declaimed against in the pulpit, as well as in the assembly; 
apprehending, that if admitted with a divine claim, presbytery 
would soon become as tyrannical as prelacy had been. He 
therefore proposed, that the civil magistrate should have the 
sole power of the keys in the meantime, till the nation was in 
a more settled state. The independents opposed the proposi- 
tion, by advancing the divine right of independent and congre- 
gational churches. For fifteen days they stated themselves as 
opponents, and fifteen days they stood on the defensive. At 
last the main points of the presbyterian proposition were car- 
ried by a large majority. The independents gave in a written 
dissent, and complained of unkindly usage in the assembly. 
Their antagonists replied, that they were not conscious of hav- 
ing done them any injustice. 

When the erastians saw how matters went, they reserved 
themselves for the House of Commons, where they were certain 
of being joined, both by their own party in the House, and also 
by the disappointed patrons of independency. Accordingly, 
the clause of divine right was lost in the commons, much to 
the grief and disappointment of the Scottish commissioners and 
their English adherents. The assembly's proposition, in its 



496 MEMOIR OF 

amended form, stood thus : " That it is lawful, and agreeable 
to the word of God, that the church be governed by congrega- 
tional, classical, and synodical assemblies." The erastians had 
endeavoured to maintain their point, by contending that the 
Jewish church and state were all one : That a distinction of 
civil and ecclesiastical laws or causes were unknown amongst 
that people : That the Jewish church was their commonwealth, 
and that their commonwealth was their church; and that con- 
sequently the church and state were the same thing under dif- 
ferent appellations. "I am sure (said Mr Coleman) that the 
best reformed church that ever was went this way — I mean the 
church of Israel, which had no distinction of church govern- 
ment and civil government." In opposition to this opinion of 
Mr Coleman's, Mr Gillespie, one of the Scotch commissioners, 
and other divines, replied, and maintained that the Jewish 
church was formally distinct from the Jewish state : That there 
was an ecclesiastical sanhedrim and government distinct from 
the civil: That there was an ecclesiastical excommunication 
distinct from civil punishment: That there was also in the 
Jewish church a public confession, or declaration of repentance, 
and thereupon a re-admission of the penitent offender to fel- 
lowship with the church in holy things; and that there was a 
suspension of the profane from the temple and passover. 

Mr Coleman having attacked the intolerant and tyrannical 
spirit of prelacy, has been roughly handled by a very zea- 
lous historian of that party, who, speaking of those divines who 
preached before parliament, says, " Another of these brawlers, 
who seldom thinks of a bishop, or of the king's party, without 
indignation, is Mr Thomas Coleman. In one of his sermons* 
he thus rants against the church of England, and violently per- 
suades the parliament to execute severe justice upon her chil- 
dren. Our cathedrals, says he, are in a great measure, of late, 
become the nests of idle drones, and the roosting places of su- 
perstitious formalists. Our formalists and government, in the 
whole hierarchy? are become a fretting gangrene, a spreading 
leprosy, an insupportable tyranny. Up with it, up with it to 
the bottom, root and branch, hip and thigh ! Destroy these 
Amalakites, and let their place be no more found ! Throw 
away the rubs, out with the Lord's enemies, and the land's ! 
Vex the Midianites, abolish the Amalakites, else they will vex 
you with their wiles, as they have done heretofore ! Let po- 
pery find no favour, for it is treason ; nor prelacy, because it is 
tyranny ! This, adds the historian, was rare stuff for the blades 
at Westminster, and pleased them admirably. They therefore 
give strait orders, to Sir Edward Aiscough and Sir John Wray, 
to give the zealot hearty thanks for his seasonable directions, 



THOMAS COLEMAN. 497 

and to desire him, by all means, to have his sermon printed; 
which he did accordingly, and in return for his thanks, de- 
dicates his fury to their worships, where he falls to his old trade 
again, calling the king's army partakers with atheists, infidels, 
and papists — saying they have popish priests and masses, 
with cold, lifeless, and unedifying forms of superstitious wor- 
ship; that it swarms with drunken and debauched clergymen, 
and harbours all idle, dumb, and unpreaching ministers, tyran- 
nical church dignitaries, and spiritual courtsmen, oppressors of 
God's people, and persecutors of his faithful ministers; and that 
it is the common sewer, the sink and recipient of all the filth 
of the present and past generations. This man's railing, he 
adds, pleased the Commons so well, that they could think of 
no man fitter to prate when their wicked league and covenant 
was taken ; which he did to excellent purpose, tickling their fil- 
thy ears; and for this stuff colonel Long must be ordered to 
give him the thanks of the House." Admitting the quotations 
to be true, had the historian suffered as much from the same 
quarter as thousands of the puritans had done, he had been 
less scurrilous with his remarks; for though the expressions 
are severe, they were not given without abundant provocation ; 
and the history of the times authenticate much of their veracity. 

Mr Coleman fell sick while the great debate was pending in 
the assembly; and some of the members visiting him, he re- 
quested they would suspend the matter in controversy, and not 
bring it to a conclusion till they heard what he had farther to 
say. To which the assembly agreed. But his complaint increas- 
ing, he died in a few days; and the whole assembly paid their 
last tribute of respect to his memory, by following him to the 
grave, March 30th, 1647. 

His works are, 1. The Christian's Course and Complaint, 
both in the pursuit of Happiness desired, and for Advantages 
slipped in the course of that pursuit. — 2. The Heart's Engage- 
ment; a Sermon preached at the public entering into covenant 
at St. Margaret's, Westminster. — 3. God's Answer to a Solemn 
Fast, preached to both houses of parliament. — 4. A Brotherly 
Examination Examined; or, a clear Justification of those Pas- 
sages in a Sermon against which Mr Gillespie did preach and 
write. — 5. A Short Discovery of some Tenets which entrench 
upon the Honour and Power of Parliament. — 6. A Model, &c. 



EDWARD CORBET. 

This puritan divine was born at Pontesbury in Shrop- 
shire, 1602, and educated in Merton college Oxford, where he 
18 3 r 



498 MEMOIR OF EDWARD CORBET. 

took the degree of arts, and was afterwards chosen fellow. He 
was made proctor of the university; but refusing to conform to 
certain points, he was called before the vice-chancellor, who 
laid his case before Laud, chancellor of the university, whom 
he petitioned for relief; but it does not appear that he received 
any redress. Upon the commencement of hostilities between 
the king and parliament, Oxford being garrisoned by the royal 
forces, he was deprived of his fellowship, and expelled from the 
college for refusing to espouse the royal cause. Archbishop 
Laud, being afterwards a prisoner in the tower, refused him the 
rectory of Chatham in Kent, on account of his puritan princi- 
ples; and when appointed rector of that place by an ordinance 
of parliament, 1643, his lordship still refused his allowance, 
though the refusal was now of no avail. Mr Corbet was an 
evidence against the archbishop on his trial, and deposed, 
" That in the year 1638, his grace visiting Merton college by 
his deputy Sir John Lamb, one article propounded to the wardens 
and fellows was, Whether they made due reverence by bowing 
toward the altar when they came into the chapel ? That he and 
Mr Cheynell were enjoined, by the visitors and commissioners, to 
use this ceremony; and refusing, though he had assigned his 
reasons for so doing, he was particularly threatened. That 
after this, Dr. Frewin, the vice-chancellor, told him that he 
had been sent by the archbishop to require of him that he must 
use this ceremony. That the archbishop after this sent injunc- 
tions to Merton college, requiring them to bow towards the al- 
tar, and that the visitors questioned such as refused; and that 
there was a crucifix placed above the communion-table in Mag- 
dalen college, with pictures in the windows; that a crucifix was 
also set up in Christ church — none of which innovations were 
ever heard of before the time of the archbishop." 

Mr Corbet was chosen one of the assembly of divines, where, 
according to Neal's list, he was a constant attender. He is also 
said to have been one of the committee for the examination and 
ordination of ministers, and one of the preachers to the parlia- 
ment. He was likewise one of the seven preachers appointed 
by parliament for the purpose of reconciling the scholars at Ox- 
ford to the parliamentary order of things in 1646. But Wood 
informs us, that he soon left that employment, and threw his 
part of the duty on the shoulders of the remaining six. Mr 
Corbet was also appointed one of the visitors of that university, 
and orator and canon of Christ church in the room of Dr. Henry 
Hammond. He did not remain long in this situation, but be- 
ing made rector of Great Hasely, he removed thither to take 
the charge of his flock. He took the degree of doctor of divi- 
nity in 1648, and continued at Hasely till his death, which took 



MEMOIR OF CALIBUTE DOWNING. 499 

place at London in 1657, and fifty-fifth year of his age. His 
remains were conveyed to Great Hasely, and interred in the 
chancel of his own church. 

He has been accounted an excellent divine, a valuable preach- 
er, and a man of inflexible integrity. 

Dr. Corbet is supposed to be the author of the Worldling's 
Looking Glass; and he has published one of his Sermons on 
God's Providence, from 1 Cor. L 27, preached before the Com- 
mons at their Fast, December 28th, 1642 ; and probably some 
other works. 



CALIBUTE DOWNING, D. D. 

This zealous reformer was born at Shenington, in Glou- 
cestershire, in 1604. He belonged to an ancient and respect- 
able family, and took his education in Ariel college Oxford. 
After having finished his studies, and entered on the ministerial 
work, he was successively rector of Ickford in Buckingham- 
shire, of West Ilsley in Berkshire, and vicar of Hackney, near 
London. In 1640, Mr Downing maintained, in a sermon preach- 
ed before the artillery company, " That in defence of religion, 
and for the reformation of the church, it was lawful to take arms 
against the king, providing it could not be otherwise obtained." 
In consequence of his having thus expressed his sentiments, he 
was forced to abscond from the danger with which he was 
threatened. He retired to the house of the earl of Warwick, 
in Essex, where he remained till the meeting of the long parlia- 
ment. In 1643 he resigned his vicarage of Hackney, and was 
succeeded by Dr. Spurstowe, who was afterwards ejected by the 
act of uniformity. 

The civil war having commenced, Dr. Downing became 
chaplain to lord Roberts, in the army of the earl of Essex. In 
which office his conduct has been severely handled by the high 
church historians. He was appointed one of the licensers of 
the press. In 1643, according to Wood, he shewed himself a 
zealous covenanter; and thereupon was chosen one of the as- 
sembly of divines. He died in 1644, and has left behind him 
the reputation of a pious man, a pathetic preacher, and a warm 
promoter of religion, church reformation, and the good of his 
native land. 

His writings are, 1. A Discourse of the State Ecclesiastical of 
this Kingdom in relation to the Civil. — 2. A Digression, dis- 
cussing some Exceptions against Ecclesiastical Officers. — 3. A 
Discovery of the false grounds the Bavarian party have laid to 
settle their own faction, and shake the peace of Europe. — 4. A 
Discourse on the Interest of England. — 5. A Discoursive Con- 



500 MEMOIR OF 

jecture upon the Reasons which produce the present troubles 
of Great Britain different from those of Lower Germany. — 6. 
Several Sermons, &c. 



JOHN DURY. 

This persevering christian pacificator, according to Wood, 
was born in Scotland. He became a sojourner in the university 
of Oxford in 1624, for the sake of the public library. After 
this he travelled into various countries, particularly through 
most parts of Germany, where he visited the recesses of the 
muses. Here he continued so long, and spake their language 
so fluently, that after his return to England, he was often taken 
for a native German. 

Mr Dury was, for many years, engaged in a design of uniting 
the Lutherans and Calvinists; or, as he himself expresses it, 
" For making and settling a protestant union, and peace in the 
churches beyond seas." The following account of Mr Dury's 
exertions, in prosecuting this bold undertaking, comes from one 
who censured both the man and his whole project : " He made 
a remarkable figure (says he) in his time, running up and down, 
with enthusiastic zeal, for uniting the Lutherans and Calvinists. 
He was so strongly prepossessed with the hopes of ultimate suc- 
cess, that no difficulties could discourage him, nor apparent im- 
possibilities induce him to relinquish the object of his pursuit. 
That he might be at full liberty to range the christian world to 
promote the desired object, he applied for, and obtained, a dis- 
pensation of non-residence on his living: he not only procured 
a license for the purpose, but even the approbation and recom- 
mendation of archbishop Laud, and had encouragement and 
pecuniary assistance from bishop Hall and the bishop of Kil- 
more. He began by publishing his plan of union in 1634; and 
during the same year he appeared in a famous assembly of 
Lutherans at Frankfort, in Germany. The churches of Tran- 
sylvania likewise sent him their advice and counsel the same 
year; after which he negotiated with the divines of Sweden 
and Denmark. He consulted the universities; communicated 
their answers; he directed his attention to every quarter, and 
conferred with the learned in most places of the continent, and 
obtained their approbation of his design. His project, however, 
was much ridiculed, which only served to inflame his zeal, and 
give renovating vigour to his exertions. He seems to have 
been an honest man, but enthusiastical. His notions were 
but idle fancies, and his whole scheme equally wild and im- 
practicable." * 

* Biog. Britan. vol. vii. p, 4383, Edit. 1747, 



JOHN DURY. 501 

Notwithstanding the censorious remarks of this writer, it is 
evident that Mr Dury's undertaking was patronized and encou- 
raged by many celebrated divines. In 1635 he corresponded 
on this subject with the learned Mr Joseph Mede, requesting 
his thoughts on the best method of prosecuting and promoting 
the design; stating also the manner in which he had addressed 
the Batavian churches on that subject. Mr Mede most cordially 
approved of his pacific endeavours, commended his method of 
addressing the foreign churches, and spoke of his abilities in 
terms of the highest approbation; but expressed his doubts as 
to the success of his labours. " From his wisdom and abilities 
therein (says he), I am fitter to receive instruction than to cen- 
sure or give direction." Mr Dury communicated his design to 
the most celebrated of the New England divines, who signified 
their hearty concurrence in his generous undertaking. Mi- 
Baxter also informs us, that " Mr Dury, having spent thirty 
years in his endeavours to reconcile the Lutherans and Calvin- 
ists, was again going abroad on the same business. He desired 
the judgment of our association (says he), how it might be 
most advantageously accomplished; upon which, at their desire, 
I drew up a letter more largely, in Latin, and more briefly in 
English." 

On the commencement of the civil war, Mr Dury espoused 
the cause of parliament, and was chosen one of the superadded 
members of the Westminster assembly. He took the covenant 
with the rest of his brethren, and was appointed one of the 
committee of accommodation. It is said that he afterwards 
joined the independents, took the engagement, and all other 
oaths that were imposed under the commonwealth. He was a 
man of the most disinterested and worthy character, much re- 
vered and beloved by many individuals greatly distinguished 
for learning and piety; among whom we cannot omit the fa- 
mous Mr Robert Boyle, his kind friend. The very design of 
promoting concord among christians, discovered a most excel- 
lent spirit; and the unyielding perseverance, and indefatigable 
efforts made to realize an object so desirable, manifest a gene- 
rosity of soul that has seldom been equalled, and probably 
never outdone. 

In July 1660, he addressed the following letter to the lord 
chancellor Hyde : 
« My Lord, 

" In the application which I made to your honour, when you 
were at the Hague, I offered the fruit of my thirty years' labours 
towards healing the breaches among protestants; and this I did 
as one who had never served the turn of any party, or had been 
biassed by particular interests for any advantage to myself. 






502 MEMOIR OF JOHN DURY. 



But by walking in the light by rule and principle, have stood 
free from all in matters of strife, that I might be able to serve 
them in love. My way hath been, and is, to solicit the means 
of peace and truth amongst the dissenting parties, to do good 
offices, and to quiet their discontents, and I must still continue 
in the same way if I can be useful. But not being rightly un- 
derstood in my aims and principles, I have been constrained to 
give this brief account thereof, as well to rectify the miscon- 
struction of former actions, as to prevent farther mistakes con- 
cerning my intention and manner, that such as love not to fo- 
ment prejudices, may be clear in their thoughts concerning me, 
and may know where to find me, if they would discern me, or any 
of the talents which God hath bestowed upon me, for the pub- 
lic welfare of his churches; which is my sole aim, and wherein 
I hope to persevere unto the end, as the Lord shall enable me, 
to be without offence unto all, with a sincere purpose to ap- 
prove myself to his majesty in all faithfulness. 

" Your lordship's most humble servant in Christ, 

" John Dury." 

In the same month he wrote to the earl of Manchester, lord 
chamberlain of his majesty's household, giving an account of 
certain proceedings relative to the universal pacification of 
christians. In 1660, through favour of the same earl he was 
presented with so much of the Lithuanian bible as was then 
printed, which was down to the Chronicles. Thus Mr Dury 
lived till after the restoration; but does not appear to have 
either conformed or been ejected. Every thing seems to have 
given way to his favourite object. It is probable, therefore, 
that he had discontinued his stated ministerial labours some 
time prior to this period. 

His works are, 1. Consul tatio Theologica Super Negotio 
Pacis Ecclesiast. — 2. Epistolary Discourse to Thomas Good- 
man, Ph. Nye, and Sam. Hartlip. — 3. On Presbytery and 
Independency. — 4. Model of Church Government. — 5. Peace- 
maker, the Gospel way. — 6. Seasonable Discourse for Refor- 
mation. — 7. The Reformed School. — 8. The Reformed Library- 
keeper. — 9. Bibliotheca Augusta Sereniss Princ. D. Augusti 
Ducis Brunovicensis, etc. — 10. The unchanged, constant, and 
single-hearted Peace-maker drawn forth into the world. — 11. 
Supplement to the Reformed School. — 12. Earnest Plea for 
Gospel Communion. — 13. Summary Platform of Divinity. — 
14. A Declaration of John Dury, to make known the truth of 
his way and deportment in all these times of trouble. — 15. 
Irenicorum Tractatuum Prodromus, and some others. 



503 



THOMAS FOORD, M. A. 

This persecuted puritan divine was born at Brixton in 
Devonshire, 1598. His family was respectable and wealthy. 
His father died when he was young; so that the care of his edu- 
cation devolved on his mother. He had a strong bias to learn- 
ing, and was, while yet a child, susceptible of very serious im- 
pressions. His school-master reckoned that he was fit for the 
university at the age of fifteen; but sundry causes prevented 
him from entering till 1619, when he entered as student in 
Magdalen-hall, Oxford. He was a diligent student, and made 
great proficiency in the learned languages, and the various 
branches of literature which were more immediately connect- 
ed with theology. In 1624 he proceeded bachelor of arts, and 
took his degree of master of arts in 1627. According to Wood, 
he entered into orders, and became a diligent, faithful, and 
successful tutor in his own college for several years, of equal cele- 
brity, according to Mr Calamy, with any in the university. 
Warmly attached to the principles of the puritans, and zealous 
in defending and promoting the great object for which thev 
contended, he sometimes expressed himself, as did several 
others, so freely in his public ministrations in the university, 
that a considerable noise was raised amongst the directors of 
that great seat of learning. The occasion was this, Dr. Frewin, 
president of Magdalen college, had changed the communion 
table of the chapel into an altar, the first that had been set up 
in the university since the reformation. Several preachers at 
St. Mary's exclaimed against this glaring innovation, particu- 
larly Mr Thorn of Baliol college, in a sermon from 1 Kings 
xiii. 2. respecting the altar erected at Bethel; and Mr Hodge of 
Exeter college, preaching from that passage of scripture, " Let 
us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt," attacked the 
system of innovations going forward with considerable freedom 
and keenness of animadversion , Mr Foord also, in his turn, 
preaching from 2 Thess. ii. 10, 11. "And with all deceivable- 
ness of unrighteousness in them that perish," &c. This sermon 
was delivered on the 12th of June 1631. He made some se- 
vere remarks on the innovations that were creeping into the 
church, on magnifying the importance of tradition, making the 
communion into a sacrifice with altars; to which men were 
commanded, idolatrously, to bow, and a variety of similar and 
equally useless and abominable ceremonies. 

Laud and his coadjutors were exasperated almost to madness 
at these sermons, declaring that they were intended as reflec- 
tions on the conduct and character of some very eminent ec- 






504 MEMOIR OF 

clesiastics; besides, that they were an open violation of the 
king's declaration for silencing the arminian controversy. Ac- 
cordingly, next morning the vice-chancellor had Mr Foord 
summoned before him, and demanded a copy of his sermon; 
which Mr Foord offered to give him, if he demanded it accord- 
ing to the statute. He then ordered him to surrender his per- 
son a prisoner at the castle. Mr Foord offered to go, providing 
he would send a beadle, or even a servant with him; which not 
being done, he did not surrender himself. The Saturday fol- 
lowing, the vice-chancellor, highly enraged, sealed up Mr 
Foord's study, after having examined all his books and papers 
in search of matter to condemn him. Herein, however, he to- 
tally failed, inasmuch as Mr Foord had previously removed 
every thing of which his enemies could take the least advantage. 
In the meantime, archbishop Laud, who was himself chancellor 
of the university, having been apprised of the whole affair, sent 
orders to punisli the preachers. Upon this, a citation, in Laud's 
name, dated July 2d, was fixed on St. Mary's church, command- 
ing Mr Foord to appear before the vice-chancellor on the 5th. 
Foord appeared on the day appointed, and was urged to take 
an oath ex officio ; which he refused to do, because there were no 
questions in writing. Again he offered a copy of his sermon if the 
vice-chancellor would demand it by virtue of the statute. Next 
day, however, he delivered a copy of the sermon; which was 
accepted. But on pretence of his former contumacy, he was 
again commanded to surrender himself a prisoner. Here Mr 
Foord appealed from his jurisdiction to that of the convocation, 
and delivered his appeal in writing to the new proctors, Messrs 
Atherton Brnch and John Doughty, both men of ability and 
integrity. They brought the appeal before the convocation, 
where the case was referred to sixteen delegates, when ten out 
of fifteen, upon a full hearing, acquitted Mr Foord from all 
breach of peace. At last Laud brought the whole affair before 
the king and council at Woodstock; where Mr Foord appear- 
ing, the king examined him on three questions: 1. Why he re- 
fused a copy of his sermon ? Mr Foord said, " He had not re- 
fused it, but freely offered it according to the statute." 2. 
Whether Dr. Prideaux had dissuaded him from giving it ? He 
assured his majesty that he had not consulted the doctor on the 
subject : And, 3. Why he did not go to prison when the vice- 
chancellor commanded him thither on his faith? "He hoped 
(he said) that his majesty's poor scholars in the university 
should not be in a worse condition than the worst of felons, who 
are imprisoned by a mittimus, and with legal officers to conduct 
them thither." The king said no more; and the archbishop, 
though present, had not opened his mouth. The following 



THOMAS FOORD. 505 

sentence was nevertheless passed : That Messrs Foord, Thorn, 
and Hoges, be expelled the university : That both proctors be 
deprived of their places for receiving their appeals, although 
they could not legally refuse them; and that Dr. Prideaux, rec- 
tor of Exeter college, and Dr. Wilkinson, principal of Magda- 
len-hall, receive a sharp admonition for meddling in this affair 
on their behalf. 

Messrs Hoges and Thorn, upon their recantation, and sub- 
mitting to a year's suspension, were fully restored, and after- 
wards promoted to be archdeacons. But Mr Foord, by the 
final sentence, was obliged to remove from the university on 
four days notice; but was honourably conducted out of town by 
a great multitude of scholars in their habits. After this he was 
almost instantaneously invited by the magistrates of Plymouth 
to be their minister; but the malicious Laud, who had the king's 
ear, obtained a letter from him to these magistrates, which he 
accompanied with one of his own, forbidding them, as they 
dreaded the royal displeasure, to choose him; and in case he 
should be chosen, the bishop of Exeter was commanded not to 
admit him. The inhabitants of Plymouth were therefore oblig- 
ed to relinquish the object of their choice. Finding that Laud 
was determined to exclude him from all preferment in England, 
Mr Foord embraced the opportunity of going abroad, in the ca- 
pacity of chaplain to an English regiment, commanded by co- 
lonel George Fleetwood, in the service of Gustavus Adolphus. 
He travelled with the colonel into Germany, and lay some time 
in garrison at Stode and Elbing. His eminent talents and eru- 
dition recommended him to the learned of all professions 
wherever he travelled. The English merchants at Hamburgh 
invited him to become, their minister, at a salary of two hun- 
dred pounds; but not relishing a foreign country, he returned 
to England. On his arrival, he was presented to the rectory of 
Aldwinkle in Northamptonshire; and what is rather surprising, 
Laud and his party offered no objection. Here he continued a 
diligent and faithful minister of Christ for some years, and mar- 
ried the daughter of Fleetwood of Gray's Inn, Esq. by 

whom he had several children. He was chosen proctor for the 
clergy of the diocese of Peterborough to the famous convoca- 
tion of 1640. 

When the civil war broke out, he retired to London, where 
he became minister of St. Faiths, London, and afterwards a 
member of the assembly of divines. When the wars were over, 
Mr Foord settled at Exeter in Devonshire. Here he found the 
city and adjacent country under the influence of a sect of en- 
thusiasts, who pretended they stood in no need of ordinances; 
but that they were raised, by the divine illumination^ quite 
19 3 s 



306 MEMOIR OF 

above them. Here he distinguished himself in preaching down 
the mad errors of this visionary tribe. His labours, in this 
place, were crowned with remarkable success; the city was 
greatly reformed, and a relish for the doctrines of truth gra- 
dually restored. Mr Foord preached in the cathedral, though, 
Upon one occasion, he was put out by major general Des- 
borough, for refusing the engagement. He was greatly esteem- 
ed, both by the people, the magistrates, and neighbouring gen- 
tlemen, and held a very friendly correspondence with the other 
ministers of the city. He induced them to set up a Tuesday's 
lecture; in which they all took their turns, and were uncom- 
monly well attended. He also prevailed, with his brethren, to 
have the sacrament administered every fortnight, taking the 
churches in rotation, at which the members of the other 
churches might have an opportunity of communicating. These 
measures had a strong tendency to prevent all jealousies among 
the ministers, and to unite the people in brotherly-affection 
amongst themselves. The ministers of Exeter lived together in 
much harmony and happiness, and the work of the gospel was 
greatly promoted by their faithful labours, till the act of uni- 
formity ejected them from their several charges; though still re- 
maining among their people. Upon the coming out of the Ox- 
ford act, he, and twelve other ministers, who resided in the ci- 
ty, not satisfied with all the particulars of the oath therein im- 
posed, and aware that their refusal would be misconstrued, 
thought it prudent to present a petition to the magistrates. This 
petition stated, that they were so free from all thoughts of raising 
a new war, or resisting the powers that by divine providence were 
over them, that they were firmly resolved never to take arms 
against the king's person or government, nor aid, abet, counte- 
nance, or encourage others in any tumultuous or unpeaceable 
endeavours to disturb his majesty's kingdoms; but to behave 
themselves peaceably in all things, and at all times, tinder his 
majesty's government, in church and state. That this they 
humbly offered, not expecting thereby to be freed from the ope- 
ration of the act, but that they might not be represented to his 
majesty as disaffected and disloyal persons. The magistrates, 
however, having no favour for men of their sentiments, refused 
the petition; and the petitioners were obliged to leave the city 
for some time. Mr Foord retired to Exmouth, nine miles from 
Exeter, where he lived privately, and, under the direction of an 
indulgent providence, had a competent support. 

When the indulgence came out, though Mr Foord neither 
approved the men that procured it, nor the object it was in- 
tended to effect, it was, nevertheless, his opinion, that mini- 
sters should embrace the opportunity it afforded for preaching 



THOMAS FOORD. 507 

the gospel. On this occasion, though his health was much im- 
paired, be returned to Exeter; where he was not able to preach 
more than two sermons in public, though he was greatly service- 
able by his private advice and conversation. At this juncture, 
while many were flattering themselves with the approach of 
flourishing times, Mr Foord was daily warning them, that there 
was yet in reserve a far more dreadful storm that would una- 
voidably fall on the churches. This was awfully verified, in 
the terrible persecution which took place in various countries 
during some following years. 

Mr Foord's health was daily on the decline; so that he was 
soon confined to his bed, and could speak but little to those per- 
sons who visited him. When visited by some ministers of the 
city, he spoke much of his own unworthiness, and the all-sufii- 
ciency of Christ. " On this rock (said he) I have reposed my 
confidence, where I hope to remain safe amid all the storms of 
dissolution. The sting of death is sin ; but thanks be to God, 
who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
These were the last words he was heard to utter. Dr. Calamy 
says, "He died in December 1674, in the seventy-sixth year of 
his age, and that he was buried in St. Laurence church, Exe- 
ter. He was esteemed a man of excellent parts, and of unbi- 
assed principles, the same man at all times, and in the midst of 
all changes." 

His printed works are, 1. Two Sermons, one preached before 
the Lords, the other before the Commons. — -2. Singing of 
Psalms, a Christian duty under the New Testament.— 3. The 
Sinner Condemned of himself, being a plea for God against all 
the ungodly. — 4. Self-evidence of Scripture, proving it to be the 
only rule of Faith. 



JOHN FOXCROFT, A. M. 

Mr Foxcroft received his education in Magdalen-hall, 
Oxford, and took his degree of arts in 1617; and having finish- 
ed his studies, he entered on the work of the ministry. He 
was some time after this minister of Gotham in Nottingham- 
shire; where he continued several years, according to Wood, a 
puritanical preacher. On the commencement of the civil war 
he joined the parliament; and while exercising his pastoral 
office at Gotham, was much molested by the royal party. In 
1640 he was chosen one of the assembly of divines, and was a 
constant attending member of that assembly. Removing to 
London, he became a frequent preacher in that city, and some- 
times before parliament. 



60S MEMOIR OF 

Mr Foxcroft still retained a powerful affection for his flock 
at Gotham, as appears by his epistle dedicatory to the House 
of Commons before his sermon; in which he says, " Give me 
leave only to shed a few tears on the neck of the bleeding county 
of Nottingham, now as much beloved as that which gave me 
breath; having been the place of my ministry for the longer 
half of my life." 

Mr Foxcroft published one Sermon, preached before the Com- 
mons, entitled The Good of a Good Government, and most pro- 
bably several other works. 



THOMAS GATAKER. 

This eminent and learned divine was born in London, on 
the 4th September 1574, and received the first principles of 
education in his father's house. He gave early indications of 
genius and application, and entirely devoted himself to liter- 
ature while but a boy. His conversation was grave, and his 
manners pleasing, exhibiting literature above his age, and wis- 
dom above his learning. Having passed the classes in the 
grammar school, his father sent him, in 1590, to St. John's 
college, Cambridge, where he prosecuted his studies with unre- 
mitting ardour. He was one of those diligent students who 
constantly attended the Greek lectures of the famous Mr John 
Bois, one of king James' translators of the bible. This cele- 
brated Grecian read a Greek lecture, in his bed, to such scholars 
as preferred their nightly studies to their rest. Under his in- 
structions Mr Gataker made amazing improvement in that lan- 
guage; and carefully preserving the notes of these lectures, when 
visited by Mr Bois several years after, he produced them, to the 
great joy of the good old man, who was so much pleased, that 
he said he thought himself several years younger from the un- 
expected entertainment they had afforded him. Mr Gataker 
continued to prosecute his studies with unrelaxed application, 
and attained an honourable proficiency in the knowledge of the 
Hebrew language, having been carefully instructed by Mr 
Lively, professor of Hebrew in Cambridge, and eminently qua- 
lified for that difficult office. Mr Gataker had not been long 
settled at Cambridge till he sustained a heavy loss by the death 
of his father, who had it not in his power to leave what was 
sufficient to maintain him through the course of his academical 
studies. The hopes, however, with which his promising genius, 
and steady application, had inspired his friends, induced them 
to contribute to his- assistance; and conscious of the tenor by 
which he held their bounty, he applied himself seriously and 



THOMAS GATAKER. 509 

successfully to the acquisition of intellectual treasure; and his 
attainments, together with his good and agreeable disposition, 
so recommended him, that he was soon chosen a scholar upon 
the foundation of his college. He took his degree in arts with 
uncommon applause, and his sentiments were much improved 
bf associating with learned and pious christians and divines, 
particularly with that eminent servant of Christ, Mr Richard 
Slock, to whom he was united in the closest ties of friendship 
aild affection. 

Mr Gataker was now held in such estimation for his learning 
anc candour, that the trustees of Sidney college appointed him 
oneof the fellows of that institution even before the building 
was Wee ted; with an offer, that, till such time as the college 
was (ompleted, he should live in the house of William Ayloffe^ 
Esq. as tutor to that gentleman's eldest son, and assistant to 
himself in studying the Hebrew language. While residing in 
this amily, he read them a portion of scripture every morning, 
giving the sense from the original languages, and then making 
practical observations. In this manner he went over the whole of 
the epistles, the prophecy of Isaiah, and a considerable part of the 
book of Job. At one of these exercises, Dr. Sterne, suffragan 
of Colchester, who was nearly related to lady Ayloffe, was pre- 
sent. The doctor was so pleased with Mr Gataker's perform- 
ance, that he pressed him to enter into orders, that his talents 
might be authoritatively exercised for the good of the church, 
(it the same time offering him what pecuniary or other assist- 
tnce he stood in need of. After some hesitation on the part of 
VIr Gataker, and a renewed solicitation from the doctor, he ac- 
uiesced, and was accordingly ordained a preacher. 
When Sidney college was finished, and ready for the recep- 
on of its society, Mr Gataker repaired thither to his station, 
id commenced tutor with great reputation, and had his ser- 
ies rewarded with singular success. While thus employed in 
iney college, he also united with Mr Abdias Ashton, and Mr 
lliam Bedell, afterwards bishop of Kilmore in Ireland, for 
t laudable purpose of preaching the gospel in the places lying 
«e to Cambridge, where, owing to different causes, the people 
^3 in great want of faithful ministers. In the prosecution of 
t%lan, Mr Gataker preached every Sabbath, for six months, 
at verton, a village on the borders of the counties of Cam- 
or e, Bedford, and Huntingdon. 

\ some reasons, which have not been given us, induced Mr 
Gapr to leave the university, and settle in London, where he 
b ec \ chaplain to Sir William Cooke, near Charing-cross. In 
th^tation he had frequent opportunities of being introduced 
to.n\ persons of eminence, particularly in the profession of 



510 MEMOIR OF 

the law, many of whom were members of Lincoln's Inn, and 
had oecasion to know his ministerial abilities. Accordingly, 
this honourable society chose him for their preacher; which 
having accepted, he discharged the duty of this office for ter 
years, much to the satisfaction of his learned audience, by whom 
he was caressed and much admired. Here he was particularl/ 
active in promoting the reformation of the Sabbath, and suc- 
ceeded in his pious endeavours beyond all expectation. By ac- 
cepting this office at Lincoln's Inn, Mr Gataker did not dissolve 
his connection with the family of Sir William Cooke ; but dur- 
ing the vacations, he always went down to Sir William's feat 
in Northamptonshire, where, during his stay, he preached e'ery 
Sabbath, either in the domestic chapel, or the parish chirch. 
In 1603 he took his degree of bachelor of divinity at Cambridge. 
The great reputation he had at Lincoln's Inn occasioned some 
valuable preferments to be offered him, which he might have 
held without resigning his present charge. But he stood op- 
posed to all pluralities. He could never be persuaded that one 
man could, at the same time, discharge his duty to two separate 
congregations, either to his own or their satisfaction. Mr Ga- 
taker had another reason for holding his place at Lincoln's Inn, 
though the salary was much less than that of several places he 
had in his choice, namely, that it afforded him leisure to prose- 
cute his studies, particularly in the original languages, the an- 
cient fathers, and the best Greek and Roman writers. 

In 1611, having entered into the matrimonial state, he ac 
cepted the rectory of Rotherhithe, in the county of Surrey, nea 
London bridge, a living of considerable value, together wit 
which he was much importuned to hold his office at Lincoln 
Inn. But this being opposed to his fixed principles with r 
gard to pluralites, he refused. In this new situation, notwir 
standing an almost perpetual headach, which had attend 
him from his youth, he discharged his numerous pastoral dufc 
with unremitting industry, carefully feeding the flock cr 
which he had been appointed pastor. Although he had no*s 
yet committed any of his learned productions to the press, ls 
celebrity was such, that he held a literary correspond^ 
with some of the greatest men of the age. Some of his l^ rs 
to Dr. Usher, afterwards the celebrated primate of Ir^d, 
evince the nature and extent of his studies, as well as his a^ty 
and care to preserve the unpublished works of some anci di- 
vines. These letters likewise evidence a spirit of mode ,an " 
deference, not always observable in men of profound rar Y 
acquirements. In a letter, dated from Rotherhithe, 18t> arcn 
1616, he informs Usher, that he had, in his possession, j anu= 
script, containing certain treatises, which he could l eai 'n 



THOMAS GATAKER. 511 

had ever been printed, among which was Guielmus de Sancto 
Amore de Periculis Novissimorum Temporum, and an Oration, 
in writing, delivered to the pope at Lyons, by Robert Grost- 
head, formerly bishop of Lincoln. " Some of these (said he), if 
they are not already abroad, may not be unworthy of being 
brought into the light; nor should I be unwilling, if they be so 
esteemed, to bend my weak endeavours that way. But of that 
Oration to the pope, certain lines in my copy are paired away; 
but not so much but the sense may still be guessed and gather- 
ed from the context. In the other treatises there are many de- 
ficiencies which cannot easily be amended, and some of them 
not without the help of other copies. My desire is to under- 
stand from you, Whether, when you were in England, you 
lighted on any of these ; and if so, where, or in whose hands 
they were ?" In answer to the above, Usher informed Mr Ga- 
taker, that one of the treatises was published, and that the other 
was ready for the press by another hand. 

Dr. Usher and Mr Gataker had both a great predilection for 
ancient manuscripts, and for publishing the remains of ancient 
divines; which first introduced them to the acquaintance of one 
another, and occasioned their friendly correspondence. As Mr 
Gataker never wrote upon any subject which he had not tho- 
roughly considered, and examined what had been said upon it by 
men of all ages and parties, so his penetration in distinguishing 
truth, and his honest zeal in supporting it, laid him continually 
open to the clamours of those men, who had nothing in view but 
the support of those systems to which their interest or educa- 
tion had attached them, or the magnifying of such notions as 
were popular at the time; the defence of which procured them 
numerous admirers, though their arguments were ever so weak 
and inconclusive. 

In such disputes, however, these furious opponents were sure 
to have the worst with Mr Gataker; and however considerable 
they might be, either in figure or number, they only served the 
more effectually to enhance his triumph. For his modesty and 
natural diffidence prevented him from publishing any thing till 
he was forty-five years of age; by which time his judgment was 
so confirmed by extensive reading and hard study, and so sup- 
ported by an extraordinary and almost incredible memory, that 
he always carried his point, and effectually baffled every attempt 
again to spread darkness and obscurity over any subject he 
had once proposed to enlighten. 

The regularity of Mr Gataker's life, his unsullied character, 
together with the general esteem in which he was held by the 
greatest and best men in the nation, fortified him against the 
low and little artifices, from which a writer, deficient of such 



512 MEMOIR -OF'" 

guarantees, must unavoidably have suffered. He had not the 
smallest tincture of spleen or arrogance in his composition; and 
though it be true that he gave no quarter to the arguments of 
his adversaries, no scurrility on their part could provoke him to 
strike at their persons or character. He knew the prize for 
which he contended was truth, and that the world was consti- 
tuted the decisive judges. He was always cautious to say no- 
thing unbecoming, indecent, or that might prove ungrateful to 
the intelligent reader, whose object was the discovery of truth. 
He was not so scrupulous, however, as forbear to dismantle vul- 
gar errors for fear of offending the multitude. His modesty, 
though it might hinder his promotion, never obstructed his pro- 
gress in the path of duty. He understood perfectly, how easy it 
was either to lead the people into profanity, or work them into 
superstition; and none could be more sensible than himself, that 
true religion was alike opposed to both. Aware that hypocrisy 
was calculated to ensnare, as well as libertinism is to seduce, 
he was jealous lest canting words, and a solemn show of sanc- 
tity, might enable presumptuous, or self-interested men, to 
put a yoke on the necks of christians very different from that 
of Jesus Christ # . 

Mr Gataker was always careful, in his pulpit exercises, that 
his doctrine might be not only sound, but also suitable to the 
circumstances of his congregation. A desire to unfold the whole 
counsel of God, induced him, among other subjects, to discourse 
on one, both curious and critical, namely, the nature and abuse 
of lots; a subject, in his opinion, but ill understood, and one 
from which much mistake and inconveniency had arisen. Con- 
ceiving that a minute investigation of this ill-defined subject, 
by affording his congregation more correct views of the matter, 
might prove beneficial, Mr Gataker was induced to handle it, as 
he did all other subjects, freely, fully, and fairly, without ever 
suspecting it would involve him in a long and troublesome con- 
troversy. Some ignorant, or ill-disposed persons, however, had 
noised abroad, that he was become the defender of gamesters, 
and the patronizer of cards and dice, with other groundless 
stories; which obliged him to publish his opinions on that sub- 
ject, in a small treatise; in which, says the above author, " It 
is hard to say, whether the accuracy of the method, the conclu- 
siveness of his reasoning, or the prodigious display of learning, 
deserve most to be admired?" He dedicated this little work 
to Sir Henry Hobart, Bart, chief justice of the common pleas, 
with all the benchers, barristers, and students of Lincoln's Inn, 
as a mark of his gratitude and respect for their former favours. 
The publication of this piece made a great noise in the world, 

• * Bio?. Britan. vol. iv. p. ilGO. 



THOMAS GATAKER. 513 

and gained its author great reputation. This learned performance 
is entitled, Of the Nature and Use of Lots, a treatise historical and 
theological. In the preface to the judicious and ingenuous read- 
er, he observes, that though he had often been solicited to ap- 
pear in public, through the medium of the press, he had hither- 
to declined. " But (says he) a two-fold necessity is now impos- 
ed upon me to do some thing in this way, partly by the impor- 
tunity of divers christian friends, religious and judicious, who, 
being partakers of my public ministry, have heard, or, upon re- 
quest, have seen some part of this weak work, or, from the re- 
port of others concerning it, have not ceased to solicit the pub- 
lication thereof; but partly also, and more especially, by the ini- 
quity of some, who, being of a different opinion with regard to 
certain points therein disputed, have been more forward than 
was meet, to tax and traduce, with unchristian slanders and un- 
charitable censures, both the writer and the work. 

" Should any, says he, surmise that this kind of writing may 
occasion too much liberty in this licentious age, I answer, 1st, 
That it is neither equal nor fair, that, for the looseness of some, 
the consciences of the godly and circumspect should be en- 
tangled and ensnared; and, 2dly, That whosoever shall take no 
more liberty to themselves than this treatise allows them, shall 
be sure to keep within the bounds of piety and charity, equity 
and sobriety; than which I know not what more can be reason- 
ably required. I protest before God's face, and in his fear, that 
for no sinister ends undertook I this task; nor have I averred 
or defended any thing therein, but what, I am verily persuad- 
ed, is agreeable to the word of God." 

In the first chapter he describes what a lot is, and treats of 
lottery in general. In the 2d, Of chance or casualty, and 
casual events. 3d, Of the several kinds of lots. 4th, Ordinary 
lots. 5th, Of the lawfulness of such lots, with the cautions ne- 
cessary in using them. 6th, Of ordinary lusorious lots, and 
their lawfulness. 7th, An answer to the principal objections to 
lusorious lots. 8th, An answer to the lesser arguments against 
them. 9th, Cautions to be observed in the use of them. 10th, 
Extraordinary or divinitary lots. 11th, Of their unlawfulness. 
12th, An admonition to avoid them, with an answer to some 
arguments used in their defence; with the conclusion. A se- 
cond edition of this treatise, revised, corrected, and enlarged by 
the author, was published in 1627. 

The publication of the first edition drew the author into a 
controversy, which lasted many years. A very warm writer, 
who had been misled by the common report, attacked our author 
in a publication, which he calls a Refutation of Mr Gataker's 
Doctrine; but his production having had more the appearance 

19 3t 



514 MEMOIR OF 

of imger than argument, the licensers of the press would not 
sanction its publication. The enraged author considered this 
an additional injury; of which he so loudly complained, that 
Mr Gataker, whose sole object was the investigation of truth, 
generously interposed with the licensers, and opened the way 
for both his antagonist and himself. He was conscious that he 
could not better defend his own character and sentiments 
against evil reports, than by affording his virulent adversary 
the fairest opportunity. This angry piece was accordingly 
ushered into the world, and Mr Gataker soon after refuted his 
conclusions, by exhibiting the absurdity of some of them, and the 
imbecility of others, clearing, at the same time, the points in 
controversy. About twelve years after this, Mr Gataker had to 
contend with Amesius and Vcetius, both celebrated for their 
great learning, who had also written on the same subject; 
against whom he defended his sentiments, in a Latin perform- 
ance, conducted with great modesty, and fraught with uncom- 
mon erudition. 

In 1620 he made a tour into the Low Countries, which gave 
him a very favourable impression of the Dutch protestant 
churches, and most probably inclined him to that religious mo- 
deration by which he was so much distinguished. At Middle- 
burg, in Zealand, he preached to the English protectants greatly 
to their satisfaction ; but excited the high displeasure of the 
English catholics, by disputing with their ablest and most 
learned priests; and though he could not convert, he certainly 
confounded them; which drew down their keenest resentment. 
His mother knowing his zeal, and the provocation that his 
works had already given, was apprehensive of danger to his 
person on this occasion, and not altogether without cause, from 
a party never famous for their moderation. On his return, he 
applied himself, with his former assiduity, to his beloved studies 
and the charge of his flock. About this time he addressed a 
letter to his learned friend Usher, now preferred to a bishopric, 
wherein he gives a very affecting description of the state of the 
protestant churches abroad. In this letter, dated from Bother- 
hi the, September 29th, 1621, he thus expresses himself: 

" My duty to your lordship remembered. This messenger so 
opportunely offering himself, I could not avoid saluting your 
lordship in a line or two, thereby to signify my continued and 
deserved remembrance and hearty desire for your welfare. By 
this time, I presume,- your lordship has got settled in your 
weighty charge of oversight, wherein I beseech the Lord in 
mercy to bless your endeavours, to the glory of his own name, 
and the good of his church, never at any time more opposed and 
oppressed by mighty and malicious adversaries, both at home 



THOMAS GATAKER. 515 

and abroad — Never in foreign parts more generally distressed 
and distracted than at present. From France there are daily 
news of murder and massacres. Towns and cities taken by 
storm, and, without distinction of age, sex, or situation, all put 
to the sword. Nor is it likely that those few, who still stand 
out, having no succours, can long maintain their ground against 
the power of so great a prince. In the Palatinate all is report- 
ed to be likewise going to ruin. Neither, for aught I can see, 
do the Hollanders sit on surer ground; for the fire that has been 
heretofore kindled against them, about the transportation of 
coin, and the fine imposed thereupon, the East India quarrel, 
the command of the narrow seas, and the interrupting of the 
trade into Flanders, are daily more and more fanned; so that 
the fire already begins to break out, which I pray God may not 
consume both them and ourselves. . 

" I doubt not, worthy sir, but you see as well, nay, much 
better than myself and many others, what need the forlorn church 
of Christ has of hearts and hands to help to repair her ruins, 
and to fence that part of the fold that has not hitherto been so- 
openly broken down by the incursion of such ravening wolves 
as have so lamentably prevailed against the other parts, and 
will not, therefore, in all likelihood, leave the rest unassailed; 
and how much she stands in need of prayers and tears (of old 
time her principal armour) unto him who hath the hearts and 
hands of all men at his direction and disposal, and whose help 
(our only hope as matters now stand) is often nearest when all 
human aid is unavailing. But these lamentable occurrences 
carry me farther than I had intended. 

" I shall be right glad to hear of your lordship's health and 
welfare; which the Lord vouchsafe to continue, gladder to see 
the remainder of your former learned and laborious work 
abroad. The Lord bless and protect you. And thus ready to 
do your lordship any service I may in these parts. I rest," &c. 
Mr Gataker, who had not yet finished his writings on the 
points of controversy, observing that the papists laboured to prove 
the doctrine of transubstantiation agreeable to the holy scrip- 
tures, he resolved to shew the absurdity of the attempt, and the 
utter impossibility of effecting their purpose; and having driven 
them from this their principal strong hold, by prosecuting his 
attack, he forced them to quit every other refuge. This work 
was entitled, Transubstantiation declared by the popish writers 
to have no necessary foundation in the word of God. He also 
published a defence of this work; and his learned labours, in 
the whole of this controversy, proved a seasonable and essential 
service to the protestant cause, and rendered their author -de- 
servedly famous in the estimation of the most worthy charac- 



516 MEMOIR OF 

ters of the age, who admired his erudition and fortitude, as they 
also did his humility and readiness to serve the church of Christ. 

In 1640 he was engaged in a controversy about justification, 
which added additional lustre to his name. In 1643 he was 
chosen one of the assembly of divines; where his endeavours to 
promote truth, and suppress error, were strenuous and sincere; 
yet his anxiety, for maintaining peace and cordiality among the 
different parties, was such, that when his sentiments, respecting 
Christ's obedience in order to our justification, was negatived, 
and the question carried contrary to his opinion, his pacific dis- 
position induced him to keep silence, and prevented him from 
publishing his discourses on that subject which he had prepar- 
ed for the press. In 1644 he was chosen one of the committee 
for the examination of ministers. He was frequently urged to 
take the degree of doctor; but always refused; and when he was 
offered the mastership of Trinity college, Cambridge, by the 
earl of Manchester, he declined the honourable preferment. 
Content with his pastoral charge, he was more ambitious to do 
good services to others, than exalt himself. Accordingly, he 
applied himself, during those turbulent times, to his favourite 
studies; which could give offence to no party, and might entitle 
him to the gratitude and approbation of all the friends of good 
literature. With this object in view, he published, in the year 
1645, his laborious discourse on the name by which God made 
himself known to Moses and the children of Israel. In this 
profound, curious, and instructive performance, he discovered 
uncommon proficiency in the Hebrew tongue; and the work 
was so well received in the learned world, that it has passed 
through many editions. It is entitled, De Nomine Tetragram- 
mato Dissertatio, qua vocis Jehovah apud nostros receptee usus 
defenditur, et a quorundam cavillationibus iniquis pariter atque 
inanibus vindicatur. It was reprinted in 1652. It is also in- 
serted in his Opera Critica, and makes one of the ten dis- 
courses on the same subject, collected and published by Hadri- 
an Kyland. The first five of these were written by John Dru- 
sius, Sextinus Amama, Lewis Capel, John Buxtorff, and James 
Alting, who opposed the received usage which is strenuously 
defended in the other five; the first of which was written by 
Nicholas Fuller, the second by our author, and the other three 
by John Leusden. 

Mr Gataker was aware, that though the singularities of his 
opinion neither arose from a luxurious imagination, nor an af- 
fectation to oppose commonly received opinions, but were, in 
reality, the convictions arising from much reading and reflec- 
tion, yet unless they were clearly and fully demonstrated, they 
might lessen his reputation. On purpose to prevent this, and 



THOMAS GATAKER. 517 

show how much a thorough knowledge of grammatical learning 
contributes to the improvement of science, he commenced an 
undertaking, which some may consider beneath the notice of so 
great a man, namely, to examine the elementary principles of 
the Greek language, that he might be enabled the better to vin- 
dicate the results of his laborious inquiries. 

Notwithstanding Mr Gataker's close application to these 
learned and critical studies, he paid the strictest attention to his 
pastoral duties, and the business of the assembly of divines, by 
whom he was appointed to write the Annotations upon Isaiah, 
Jeremiah, and Lamentations, published in their Annotations on 
the Bible *. Mr Gataker, though greatly distinguished for his 
moderation, disapproved of many things in the national church. 
He was always opposed to the inordinate power of the bishops, 
and conceived it was requisite to divest them of their pompous 
titles and seats in parliament. He was of opinion, that a 
bishop and presbyter were one and the same office; but confin- 
ed his ideas of reformation to a moderate episcopacy. 

As he advanced in years, his incessant labours, both of body 
and mind, brought upon him infirmities, which, though they 
did not wholly put a stop to his studies, considerably retarded 
their progress. But the strength of his constitution, a temper- 
ate mode of living, and medical assistance, having restored him 
to a moderate share of health, he resumed his pulpit exercises; 
but was soon obliged to relinquish them, though he continued 
to administer the sacraments, and deliver short discourses at 
funerals. The chief part of his time was now devoted to study 
and the composition of several learned works. About this time 
he employed his pen in refuting the antinomian tenets which 
were making a considerable noise in the country. Soon after 
Mr Gataker published his discourse on the style of the New 
Testament; in which he opposed the sentiments of Pfochenius, 
who maintained that there were no Hebraisms in those sacred 
writings; which he endeavoured to prove by authorities, as well 
as argument. All this our author undertook to overthrow, 
and, according to the opinion of the best critics, effectually ac- 
complished; and so clearly and concisely explained the true 
meaning of many texts, both in the Old and New Testaments, 
corrected such a number of passages in ancient authors, and 
discovered such a consummate skill in both the living and dead 
languages, as justly procured him the reputation of one of the 
ablest philologists of the age. He tells us, in the first chapter 
of this work, "That meeting with the treatise of Sebastian 

* This useful work has been improperly ascribed to the assembly. The divines 
concerned in the performance were appointed by parliament, by whom each had 
his portion allotted him. Several of them, however, were members of that as- 
sembly. 



518 MEMOIR OF 

Pfochenius, a German divine, published in 1629, he read it 
with particular attention, and found it very weighty in matter, 
and abundantly stored with good literature; but finding many 
of the author's sentiments opposed to his own, and, in his opi- 
nion, at variance with the truth; observing also that many 
learned and great men were censured without cause, and some- 
times represented as speaking a language very different from 
what he took to be their real sentiments, these observations in- 
duced him to examine a multitude of questions started in that 
treatise." In this examination, he shews that his candour was 
in every respect equal to his critical skill and penetration. He 
uses no hard names or harsh expressions, but contents himself 
with pointing out mistakes, and the grounds on which they are 
founded. In pursuing this method, he opens a field of equally 
curious and instructive learning, and exhibits such penetration, 
judgment, and research, as are truly astonishing. He begins 
by refuting a principle that Pfochenius had assumed, namely, 
that the Greek, Latin, and German, &c. were original languages. 
On this point, his opinion is, that it cannot be easily ascertain- 
ed which are original; but with respect to the Latin, he main- 
tains that it is not. He shews, from the authority of both an- 
cient and modern authors, that it was a compound of several 
languages spoken by the Sabines, Oscans, and other old inha- 
bitants of Italy, but more especially by the Greeks; and to de- 
monstrate this more effectually, he takes the first five lines of 
Virgil, one of the purest and most elegant of the Latin poets, 
and proves that there is scarcely a single word in them that has 
not been derived from the Greek. In this way he saps the 
foundation of Pfochenius' system, by making it evident, that 
there can be no certain knowledge of the originality of any lan- 
guage in the sense in which that author understands it. 

In the fifth chapter he considers Pfochenius' three principal 
questions, 1st, Whether the text of the New Testament be truly 
Greek, and not different from that used by profane authors ? 
2d, Whether if Homer, Pindar, Plato, Demosthenes, &c. were 
to rise from the dead, they would be able to understand the 
New Testament ? And, lastly, by what name the language of 
that book is or ought to be called, whether Grsecanic, Hellenis- 
tic, or Grecian ? Mr Gataker replies, "That with regard to 
the last question, being merely a dispute about words, he will 
have nothing to do with it; the other two he discusses without 
reserve, showing, that notwithstanding the words, and even the 
phrases, in which Cicero, Sallust, Livy, Terence, and others 
wrote, are here and there to be found in scholastic writings, he 
must not only see very indifferently and obscurely, but wilfully 
shut his eyes, who does not perceive the amazing deficiency 



THOMAS GATAKER. 519 

of these writings, when compared with the parity of the Latin 
tongue, as exhibited in the works of these celebrated individuals. 
That the New Testament, originally written in Greek, is sub- 
ject to the same observations when compared with the writings 
of Homer, Pindar, Plato, Demosthenes, and other Greek writ- 
ers. For notwithstanding that the writers of the New Testament 
scriptures use many words, and even phrases, used by the above 
writers, and equally pure; yet, inasmuch as a larger proportion 
of the words and phrases used in the New Testament are adul- 
terated, and greatly deficient in respect of purity, it follows, of 
course, that the New Testament Greek differs widely from the 
Greek used by the above writers." In confirmation of all this, 
Mr Gataker goes on to show, that many Latin words are used 
by the sacred writers, though written in Greek characters, or 
disguised by Greek terminations. He also produces abundance 
of Hebrew and Syriac words introduced in the same manner. 
From which he concludes, that though Pfochenius could 
really show (which, however, he has not done) that the sacred 
writers make use of a multitude of phrases to be met with in 
profane authors; yet this would not amount to what he has as- 
serted, seeing that the former have also used many words and 
phrases employed by authors who are not allowed to have writ- 
ten pure Greek. 

With regard to Pfochenius' second question, Whether Homer, 
&c. were he to rise from the dead, could understand the New 
Testament Greek? He tells him, " It can be granted or deni- 
ed only in part; for though some places might be in a measure 
understood by these great men, were it possible for them to re- 
turn from their graves, yet this would go but a short way in 
proving what he had asserted; because, though they might, and 
no doubt would, understand some passages, others they could 
not understand. For example, says he, supposing Cicero were 
to rise from the dead, he would most probably understand the 
greater part of the writings of Apuleius; but would any compe- 
tent judge conclude from this, that the Latin of Apuleius can 
be compared in point of purity with that of Tully, or of the age 
in which Tully wrote ?" "But (says Pfochenius) Paul con- 
versed with the Greeks of his time; and if understood by them, 
why not by the ancients?" "This I can readily grant (says 
Mr Gataker), and at the same time deny the consequence you 
intend to draw from it. For owing to the admission of many 
exotic words and phrases borrowed from the Italians, Cecil ians, 
Cyrenians, and Carthagenians, :n consequence of their being 
under one government, and partly also by their commercial in- 
tercourse with those nations, it so happened, that the Greek 
language itself, in the days of the apostles, had suffered a con- 



5°20 MEMOIR OF 

siderable decline. Upon the whole, says he, were Demosthenes 
to live again, he would find, in all probability, considerable ob- 
stacles in reading and comprehending the sense of Paul's writ- 
ings, and would, no doubt, criticise many of his words and 
phrases." Mr Gataker then proceeds to show, on the authori- 
ty of Beza, the reasons why the apostles were less careful 
about the elegance than the perspicuity of their writings. 

He proceeds through the rest of Pfochenius' treatise in the 
same way, explaining, as they occur, a multitude of passages in 
sacred and profane authors, correcting some critics, and com- 
mending others who had gone before him; but with so much ap- 
parent candour, that it is impossible for the reader not to ad- 
mire his temper. In the forty-fourth chapter Mr Gataker re- 
capitulates the whole dispute, and shows that the question re- 
solves itself into this — Whether the style of the New Testament 
Greek be everywhere the same as that which was used by the 
ancient writers at the time when that language was in its great- 
est purity ? or whether it is not such as admits of Hebraisms 
and Syriasms ? Pfochenius affirms the former, and denies the 
latter; while Mr Gataker maintains the opposite opinion, and 
concludes, by observing, that after all that Pfochenius has ad- 
vanced on the subject, he (Mr Gataker) has not a doubt but 
five or six hundred phrases can be produced from the New Tes- 
tament, and a much greater number from the Greek version 
of the Old, in which there are obvious marks of the Hebrew 
and Syriac tongues, without the smallest resemblance to the 
ancient Greek, so far as men of the greatest erudition and re- 
search have hitherto been able to discover. 

The venerable primate of Ireland, than whom there could 
scarcely be a better judge of these matters, has manifested his 
respect both for our author and his performance, by sending it, 
along with his own annals, as a present to Dr. Arnold Boate, 
then residing at Paris. 

Although this was a very considerable work, and procured 
for its author the reputation of an excellent critic, it was mere- 
ly a specimen of a much larger production, on which he had la- 
boured for many years, and to which, at one time, he had a 
mind to have it attached by way of an appendix. But being 
first ready for the press, and doubtful whether he might live to 
finish the other, he thought it expedient to publish it by itself, 
the more especially, as it would enable him, in some measure, to 
judge what kind of reception his larger work was likely to meet 
with from the republic of letters. Finding this specimen of his 
miscellanies universally applauded, he prepared and published the 
two first books of his larger work, the whole being divided into 
six. The remaining four, after his death, were published by his 



THOMAS GATAKER. 5%\ 

son Charles. This work differs in nothing from the nature of 
the former, only that it has no specific object, but exhibits 
the author's opinion on difficult passages both of the Old and 
New Testaments, on the works of the primitive fathers and mo- 
dern critics; illustrating, as they fall in his way, a great variety 
of obscure and perplexed passages both in Greek and Latin 
authors. He likewise makes some observations on words and 
phrases in our own language. This work was received with 
general approbation, and the author highly applauded, particu- 
larly by Morhoff, for his singular happiness in distinguishing 
the true sense of the most difficult passages, and of making it 
evident, that the sense he defends is the genuine import of the 
place; and all this, in a few words, without the least appear- 
ance of ostentation or severity towards those he corrects, but 
rather searching after excuses for the mistakes they have made. 

The natural modesty, as well as the christian moderation, 
that distinguished Mr Gataker, prevented him from that publi- 
city of character which his talents, his labours, and the multi- 
tude of his friends, must have otherwise procured him ; yet, on 
important occasions, he was not to be deterred from what he 
considered his duty. Accordingly, on finding that the army 
were determined to bring the king to a trial, and were faking 
their measures for that purpose, he was the first man to oppose 
them, in a declaration of his sentiments, addressed to the gene- 
ral and his council, and subscribed by forty-seven of the Lon- 
don ministers. In this address, they remind the council of 
their duty to the parliament, and the obligation they were un- 
der, as well as the parliament, to defend his majesty's person, 
and all his just rights. That the one could not be injured, or 
the other invaded, without the manifest breach of many oaths. 
They taught them to distinguish between God's permission and 
his approbation, and exposed the folly of pretending to secret 
impulses to actions at variance with the written laws of God. 
They demonstrated, that the plea of necessity was false, having 
no foundation in fact; and concluded their address, by recom- 
mending the rule of John the Baptist — " Do violence to no 
man, neither accuse any falsely." 

Mr Gataker was deeply versed in the controversy about in- 
fant baptism; on which he published a small treatise, and after- 
wards added several other discourses, wherein the main ques- 
tion is treated with much serious and solid argument. Some 
time after this he likewise published two Latin discourses on 
the same subject. In 1652 he favoured the world with his ad- 
mirable edition of the Emperor Marcus Antonius' Meditations; 
to which he prefixed a Preliminary Discourse on the Stoic 
Philosophy, This was allowed, by the best critics, both at 

19 3 u 



522 MEMOIR OF 

home and abroad, to be a most complete arid correct treatise, as 
well as an excellent and useful compendium of morality. In 
some of bis former works be bad occasionally given specimens 
of his acquaintance with the works of this imperial philosopher, 
whose celebrity has always been high in the learned world. By 
the publication of Mr Gataker's edition of this famous produc- 
tion, men's expectations were considerably raised, and highly 
gratified. It had been published in Greek by Conrad Ges- 
ner, and with a Latin translation by William Hylander; 
which had passed through several editions. Mr Gataker found 
both the text and the translation exceedingly faulty, and spent 
nearly forty years in considering how the first could be amend- 
ed, and a translation given that might do j ustice to this exqui- 
site performance. He sent a list of his principal difficulties to 
the celebrated Salmasius, who, in his answer, greatly com- 
mended his undertaking; but gave him a dismal prospect of the 
obstacles that stood in his way — innumerable corruptions, fre- 
quent chasms, still more frequent transpositions, and many 
other misfortunes; for the removal of which he promised him 
his assistance. His frequent journies, however, and other 
circumstances, prevented him from performing his promise. 
Mr Gataker, nevertheless, persevered in his design, and by 
the few helps he could procure, and his own skill and pene- 
tration, comparing copies and extracts with incredible labour, 
at last completed his design, and, to the great satisfaction of 
the learned world, published his admirable edition of this valu- 
able work about two years before his death. 

Mr Gataker, in the evening of life, when he earnestly de- 
sired that repose which his unceasing labours so well merit- 
ed, and the state of his health so greatly required, was again 
most furiously attacked by the whole host of astrologers. 
In commenting on Jeremiah x. 2. where the Jews are warned 
against listening to the predictions of astrologers, and com- 
plying with the practice of idolaters, the two great sins to which 
they were likely to be tempted in their captivity at Baby- 
lon, Mr Gataker considered it his duty to warn the chris- 
tian world against listening to the presumptuous and foolish 
predictions of this juggling tribe. His exposition is full of 
good sense and sound learning, and effectually destroys the 
credit of that delusive art, by which, in all ages and coun- 
tries, weak and wandering minds have been plundered and mis- 
led. These Annotations roused the whole fraternity, from the 
highest to the lowest, who, finding their craft in danger, and 
the means by which they procured their wealth rendered doubt- 
ful and unproductive, united their endeavours to write him 
down, William Lilly, John Swan, and Sir Christopher Hey- 



THOMAS GATAKER. 623 

den, enraged at our author, wrote against both himself and his 
Annotations without either mercy or good manners; but found 
they had overvalued their own abilities when they commenced 
a warfare with that eminent philosopher and divine. In vindi- 
cation of his Annotations, Mr Gataker was induced to publish 
a discourse, in which he also defended his own character, which 
they had most maliciously attacked, and also what he had for- 
merly advanced against these illuminated star-gazers. In this 
treatise, our venerable author, in repelling the scandalous mis- 
representations of his enemies, runs over the most consider- 
able transactions of his life, relates at large the manner in 
which he arrived at his several preferments, and completely re- 
futes the idle and malicious charges and insinuations of Lilly 
and his associates. Amongst other particulars, he mentions his 
sentiments upon church government, and declares that lie never 
was an advocate for the power and splendour of prelacy? but 
that, on the contrary, he had always been inclined to a mode- 
rate episcopacy. For the sake of being serviceable in his gene- 
ration, he had submitted to the bishops; and when they were 
put down, by what he supposed a superior power, he, for the 
same reason, and with the same intention, also submitted; yet 
never sought, but even refused, offered preferment from both 
parties. This treatise, it appears, was written a very short time 
prior to his death. 

Notwithstanding that Mr Gataker had convinced all judicious 
and impartial inquirers, that the science of astrology was false 
and delusive, he could never silence his conceited and obstinate 
antagonist; whose bread being at stake, defended the system 
with unaccountable pertinacity, and by his frequent publica- 
tions, persecuted, and endeavoured to vilify our author to the 
end of his life; and then, in defiance of the dictates of religion 
or humanity, insulted him even in his grave. As for Mr Ga- 
taker, he pursued the same pious and peaceable course, till his 
age, his infirmities, and iucessant labours, had worn out his con- 
stitution. 

In his last sickness his faith and patience were strikingly 
manifest. The day before his departure, when exercised with 
extreme pain, he cried out, " How long, O Lord, how long? 
Come, oh ! come speedily." A little before he breathed his last, 
he called his son, his sister, and his daughter, to each of whom 
he delivered the charge of a dying christian. t4 My heart (said 
he) fails me, and my strength is gone; but God is the strength 
of my heart, the rock aud fortress of my salvation, and my sure 
portion. Into thy hands I therefore commit my soul, for thou 
hast redeemed me, O thou God of truth. My son, said he, you 
have a great charge, be sure to look after it, and discharge the 



524 MEMOIR OF 

duties thereof with a conscientious regard to that important day, 
when you must render an account of your stewardship. In- 
struct your wife and children in the fear of God, and watch 
for the welfare of the flock over which you have been appointed 
pastor. Sister, said he, I thought you might have gone before 
me; but God wills it otherwise, and I am called to make my 
appearance first. I hope we shall meet together in heaven ; and 
I pray God to bless you, and be your comfort in your declining 
years. Daughter, he said, mind the world, and the things of 
the world, less, and God, and the things that concern your eter- 
nal peace, more, than you have hitherto done; and never let it 
drop out of your memory, that the earth, and all it contains, 
without the fear of God, and the hopes of eternal life, are of no 
value, less than nothing, and vanity." Having thus delivered 
his dying charge, he desired them to withdraw, and leave him 
to rest; but the hour of his departure was at hand. He died 
July 27th, 1654, and in the seventy-ninth year of his age, hav- 
ing been forty-three years pastor of Rotherhithe. His funeral 
sermon was preached by Mr Simon Ashe, his much-esteemed 
friend, and afterwards published, with the title, Gray Hairs 
Crowned with Grace ; a sermon preached at the funeral of that 
reverend and eminently learned and faithful minister of Christ, 
Mr Thomas Gataker. 

This venerable divine was married four times. His third 
wife was the sister of Sir George Farwell. He would never 
condescend to have his picture taken. He is described, how- 
ever, as a man of middle stature, with a thin and slender 
body, a lively countenance, and a fresh complexion. He was 
a temperate liver, free and cheerful in conversation, strongly 
addicted to study, but by no means averse to mingle in useful 
company. He possessed a quick apprehension, a solid judg- 
ment, and a memory so uncommonly retentive, that though he 
used no common place-book, he could readily make use of any 
thing he had read. His house was a private seminary, where 
both Englishmen and foreigners resorted, and lodged for the 
benefit of his instructions. His extensive learning and talents 
were admired by the great men of his time, both at tome and 
abroad, with many of whom he held a regular correspondence. 
It is said concerning him, " That of all the critics of the age, 
who have employed their pens in illustrating polite learning, 
there are few, if indeed any, who deserved to be preferred to 
Thomas Gataker, for diligence and accuracy in explaining those 
authors whose writings he has examined." He is, moreover, 
styled, " A writer of infinite learning, and accurate judgment, 
and his name, as a scholar, is paralleled with Usher and Sei- 
dell. He was- an ornament to the university, a light to the 



THOMAS GATAKER. 525 

church, a loving husband, a discreet parent, a faithful friend, 
and a modest and kind benefactor, a candid encourager of 
learning, and an intrepid champion for the truth." According 
to Echard, " He was an able master in the Greek and Hebrew 
languages, and the most celebrated among the assembly of di- 
vines. It is hard, says he, to tell which was the most remark- 
able in this great man — his exemplary piety and charity, his 
polite literature, or his humility and modesty in refusing pre- 
ferment." 

His works, in addition to those which have their titles given 
in the course of this memoir, are, 1. A Just Defence of certain 
Passages in a former Treatise concerning the Nature and Use 
of Lots. — 2. Thomse Gatakeri Londinatis Antithesis partim 
Gulielmi Amesii partim Gisberti Vcetii de Sorte Thesibus Re- 
posita. — 3. Transubstantiation declared, by the Popish writers, 
to have no necessary foundation in God's word. — 4. De Diph- 
thongis sive Bivocalibus Dissertatio Philclogica, in qua Litera- 
rum quarundam Sonus Germanus, Natura geuuina, Figura no- 
va, et Scriptura vetus veraque investigatur. — 5. A mistake, or 
misconstruction, removed with respect to the Antinomians. — 6. 
Shadows without Substance. — 7. Mysterious Clouds and Mists. 
— 8. Thomse Gatakeri Londinatis de Novi Testamenti Stylo 
Dissertatio, &c. — 9. Thomse Gatakeri Londinatis Cinnus; sive 
adversaria miscellanea animadversionum verarum libris sex 
comprehensa: quorum primores duo nunc primitiis prodeunt 
reliquis deinceps (Deo favente) seorsum insecutaris. — 10. Ad- 
versaria Miscellanea posthuma in quibus Saerse Scripturse pri- 
ma deinde aliorum Scriptorura locis multis Lux affunditur. — 
11. De Baptismatis Infantilis vi et efficacia Disputatio privatim 
habita inter V. C. Dom. Samuelem Wardum theologise saerse 
doctorem, et in Academia Cantabrigiensi Professorem, et Tho- 
mam Gatakerum. — 12. Stricturse ad Epistolam Joannis Daven- 
antii de Baptismo Infantum. — 13. Marci Antonini Imperatoris 
de rebus suis, sive de iis quse ad se pertinere censebat, Libri XII. 
cum Versione Latina, et Commentariis Gatakeri. — 14. A Vin- 
dication of the Annotations on Jeremiah, chap x. ver. 2. against 
the scurrilous Aspersions of that grand Impostor, William 
Lilly; also against the various expositions of two of his advo- 
cates, Mr John Swan, and another by him cited, but not nam- 
ed. — 15. David's Instructor. — 16. The Christian Man's Care. — 
17. The Spiritual Watch.— IS. The Gain of Godliness.— 19. 
The Just Man's Joy, with signs of sincerity. — 20. Jacob's 
Thankfulness. — 21. David's Remembrances. — 22. Noah's Obe- 
dience. — 23. A Memorial of England's Deliverance from the 
Spanish Armada. — 24. Sorrow for Zion. — 25. God's Parley 
with Princes, and an appeal from them to him. — 26. Eleazer's 



526 MEMOIR OF 

Prayer, a Marriage Sermon. — 27. A good Wife God's Gift. 

28. A Wife indeed.— 29. Marriage Duties.— 30. Death's Advan- 
tage. — 31. The benefit of a good name and a good end. — 32. 
Abraham's Decease, a Funeral Sermon. — 33. Jeroboam's Son's 
Decease. — 34. Christian Constancy Crowned by Christ. The 
above sermons, of which bishop Wilkins gives a high character, 
were first published separately; but collected and published, in 
one volume folio, in 1637. — 35. Francisci Gomari Disputationis 
Elencticae de Justificationibus, &c. — 36. Mr Anthony Wotton's 
Defence. — 37. A true relation of Passages between Mr Wotton 
and Mr Walker. — 38. An Answer to Mr Walker's Vindication. 
— 39. Stricture in Barth. Wigelini Sangallensis de Obedientia 
Christi Disputationem Theologicam. — 40. Animadversiones in 
J. Piscatoris et L. Lucii Scripta Adversaria de causa meritoria 
Justificationis. — 41, Ejusdam Vindicatio adversus Capellum. — 
42. The Decease of Lazarus. — 43. St. Stephen's Last Will and 
Testament. — 44. God's Eye on his Israel. — 45. A Defence of 
Mr Bradshaw against Mr J. Canne. — The celebrated Herma- 
nus Witsius collected and published, in one volume, the whole 
of Mr Gataker's critical works in the year 1698, since entitled, 
Opera Critica; which will serve to perpetuate the memory of 
his learning, talents, and industry, when monuments of brass 
and marble shall have resigned their charge, and are themselves 
forgot. 



THOMAS GOODWIN, D. D. 

Mr Thomas Goodwin was born at Bolesby, a small vil- 
lage in the county of Norfolk, on the 5th October 1600. His 
parents watched over his early years with anxious solicitude, 
and bestowed on him a truly religious education. Observing a 
pious disposition, and marks of uncommon genius in their 
young scholar, they resolved to train him up for the ministry; 
and having got the ordinary routine of grammatical learning, 
he was sent to Christ church college, in the university of Cam- 
bridge, on the 25th August 1613. In this college, which was 
then in a very flourishing condition, having about two hundred 
scholars, young Goodwin remained about six years, where, by 
a close application to his studies, he soon became a very pro- 
mising scholar, secured the good opinion of his tutors, and ob- 
tained an excellent reputation in the university. In 1619 he 
removed to Katherine-hall, in the same university, of which he 
afterwards became fellow; and was, moreover, chosen lecturer 
for the year 1620. 

For some time he was a great admirer of Dr. Senhouse, 
whose sermons were ornamented with flowers of oratorv, col- 



THOMAS GOODWIN.^ 5^7 

lected from the fathers, the poets, and historians, a mode of 
preaching at that time greatly applauded in the university. Mr 
Goodwin was, at this time, but little acquainted with his own 
heart, the corruption of his nature, and the necessity of regene- 
rating grace. His ardent pursuit was after the wisdom of the 
world, and that fame and emolument which sometimes rewards 
the industry of learned men. But God was pleased to change 
his heart, and direct the course of his life and labours to the 
service of Christ and his church. Mr Goodwin kept a diary, 
which, we are told by his son, consisted of more than an hun- 
dred sheets, written by his own hand, wherein he most minutely 
notices the various feelings, hopes, and apprehensions with which 
his heart was exercised prior to his conversion to God, the man- 
ner in which the great change was effected in his soul, and the 
joy and peace he had in believing, after Christ had manifested 
himself to his soul as the all and only sufficient Saviour. Mr 
Goodwin was a great admirer of Dr. Preston and of Dr. Hill, 
both thorough Calvinists. He set them before him as models 
in his preparations for the ministerial work, and adopted their 
sentiments and views of the doctrine of justification by grace, 
and the necessity of good works. Mr Goodwin, after exami- 
nation, was admitted a preacher of the everlasting gospel, and 
soon became greatly celebrated at Cambridge. He was now 
become acquainted with personal religion, which has been ever 
considered a necessary pre-requisite in those who presume to 
preach the gospel to others; for though God has not propor- 
tioned the efficacy of his gospel to the characters of its dispen- 
sers; yet the word of God authorises us to say, that ungodly and 
wicked ministers run unsent. When souls are entrusted to Sa- 
tan's slaves, we cannot but fear they will, in one way or other, 
be directed in an unprofitable path. Ministers of the word are 
sometimes denominated men of God; an expression which, at 
least, ought to imply, that they are men devoted to his service, 
conformed to his image, animated by his spirit, and zealous for 
his honour. But a man of God, living without God in the 
world ; a master of Israel ignorant of the new birth ; a spiritual 
guide walking in the paths of destruction; a soldier of Christ 
in league with the arch-enemy of God and man — must be a 
monstrous absurdity. With respect to Mr Goodwin, his ardent 
love to Christ, the head, induced him to watch over, and care- 
fully instruct even the meanest of the flock entrusted to his 
charge. He now began to lose all relish for the showy flourishes 
which Dr. Senhouse had introduced into the university, and 
which had procured him such unbounded applause, and came 
to the fixed resolution, as he expresses himself in his diary, of 
preaching wholly and altogether sound words, without the at- 



528 MEMOIR OF 

fectation of wit, and the vanity of eloquence; all which he left 
off, and continued in the same purpose and practice for three- 
score years, without somuch as having ever been tempted to 
put in any of his own withered flowers, which he had carefully 
gathered, and, at one time, valued more than diamonds. His 
inquiry now was, not how he might raise his own reputation, 
but how he might be most instrumental in converting sinners 
from the error of their ways, instructing the ignorant, encou- 
raging the serious, and comforting those who were cast down. 

Mr Goodwin was chosen lecturer of Trinity church, Cam- 
bridge, in 1628, though not without considerable opposition 
from Dr. Buckridge, bishop of Ely. The bishop refused to ad- 
mit him, unless he would solemnly promise, pursuant to the 
king's proclamation, not to preach upon any controverted points 
of divinity. To this objection Mr Goodwin very ingeniously 
replied, " That all the most essential points of the christian 
faith being controverted, either by one person or another, such 
a promise would scarcely leave him a subject to preach upon : 
That it was not his majesty's intention to prohibit him, or any 
other person, from preaching against the gross errors of popery." 
After some farther opposition, he was admitted. In 1632 he 
was presented to the vicarage of the same church by the king. 
In this situation he was much admired, and followed by the pu- 
ritans, who were rapidly increasing in the university, as well as 
throughout the kingdom. 

Upon Mr Goodman's commencing preacher, his sermons 
were, for the most part, if not wholly, calculated to produce 
conviction and terror, to alarm the conscience, and wound the 
heart; but he seems to have improved a hint from Dr. Sibbs, 
given in a familiar manner — i( Young man (said the doctor), if 
ever you would do good, you must preach the gospel, and the 
free grace of God in Christ Jesus, and the consolations that 
flow from these important doctrines." Our author readily com- 
plied with his friend's advice, and, on publishing his sermons on 
the glory of the gospel, lie entitled them, his Evangelical first- 
fruits. The only copy of these sermons was remarkably pre- 
served and recovered. The portmanteau in which it was 
deposited was cut off from his horse's saddle by a thief, in 
the dark of the evening, opposite to St. Andrew's church, 
Holborn. The sexton, next morning, being Sabbath, on com- 
ing to ring the bell, found a parcel of papers at the root of a 
large tree; and opening them, found some papers belonging to 
a bookseller in Cambridge, who had accompanied Mr Goodwin, 
by which alone he could know to whom the parcel belonged. 
In this way our author recovered his manuscripts, to bis no 
small satisfaction. 



THOMAS GOODWIN. 529 

Mr Goodwin became much dissatisfied with the terms of 
conformity, whereupon he relinquished all his preferments, and 
left the university. In this step he acted upon the light he had 
derived from the word of God, and though thereby subjected 
to much trouble and worldly inconvenience, he enjoyed the sa- 
tisfaction arising from a clear conscience. He left all for the 
sake of Christ and his gospel, and was content to live in mean- 
ness and obscurity, if so he might serve his Lord in godly sin- 
cerity. " I cheerfully parted with all for Christ (says he), and 
he has made me abundant compensation, not merely in the con- 
solations of his Spirit, which are incomparably better than all 
things beside, but also in the enjoyment of what is desirable in 
this world. What love and esteem I have had among men are 
from him. It is he alone who has made my ministry accept- 
able, and his blessing alone has made it successful to the con- 
version and spiritual consolation of many souls." 

In 1638 he married Elizabeth, daughter of alderman Prescot, 
London; a woman of a very sweet temper, a lively wit, and sin- 
cere piety, which rendered her highly agreeable to her hus- 
band and to all her acquaintances. When the terms of confor- 
mity became still more rigidly urged, and the puritans more se- 
verely persecuted by the prelatic consistories, Mr Goodwin retir- 
ed into Holland, in search of that religious freedom denied him in 
his native land. In that asylum for persecuted christians, he 
became pastor of an independent congregation at Arnheim. 
During his residence with that congregation, some misunder- 
standing having taken place in the English church at Rotter- 
dam, Mr Goodwin, and the elders of the church of Arnheim, 
went thither; and God was pleased to bless their counsel and 
advice to the restoring of peace to that distracted church. 

About the beginning of the long parliament he returned to 
London, where he was chosen pastor of a church in the city, 
and elected a member of the assembly of divines; which he re- 
gularly attended, and took a brief account of the transactions of 
that venerable body, in fourteen or fifteen volumes octavo, which, 
his son informs us, he had in his possession written in his fa- 
ther's own hand. Being of independent principles, Mr Good- 
win was, of course, one of the dissenting brethren. Wood 
says, "He was one of the Atlases and patriarchs of indepen- 
dency in that assembly." In 1647 he had invitations from the 
reverend and learned John Cotton, and other worthy ministers 
in New England, to join them. He was much inclined to em- 
brace their kind invitation, and had even some part of his 
library put on board for that purpose; but the advice of a friend, 
to which he paid great respect, induced him to alter his re- 
solution. 

19 3x 



530 MEMOIR OF 

In 1649, he took, for his second wife, Mrs Mary Hammond, 
who bore him two sons and two daughters. He was a great fa- 
vourite with Oliver Cromwell, who considered him an eminent 
instrument in propagating the gospel, and a great luminary in the 
church. Through Cromwell's influence he was appointed pre- 
sident in Magdalen college, Oxford, in the year 1649. Here he 
formed a church on the independent plan, and was very diligent 
in promoting the interest of religion and literature. He was 
also appointed one of the commissioners for the approbation of 
preachers. Having been bachelor of divinity of several years 
standing, he took his degree of doctor of divinity in 1653. He 
was one of those ministers who attended Cromwell on his 
death-bed. In 1660 he was ejected by the new act of unifor- 
mity, and retired to London, where he continued the exercise 
of his ministry till his death. He now spent much of his time 
in religious retirement, reading, and meditation. He read 
much, and studied more, but chiefly the scriptures; and having' 
furnished his library with an excellent collection of commenta- 
tors, he made good use of them. The love and unmerited grace 
of God, the all-sufficiency of Christ as a Saviour and Redeemer, 
were the truths on which he most delighted to ponder. These 
were the food of his soul, and he wrote and preached them with 
a spiritual warmth which can be better felt than expressed. 

Mr Goodwin was seized with a malignant fever, which in a 
few days terminated in his death. As his life had been highly 
exemplary, so his end was peculiarly edifying. Even under the 
violence of his fever, he discoursed, with such confident assur- 
ance of the love of Christ, and his interest in that salvation he 
had purchased, with such holy admiration at the free and un- 
merited grace manifested in the glorious plan of redemption, 
and with such heavenly expressions of gratitude and praise, as 
deeply affected all present. He rejoiced to think he was dying, 
that he was about to leave a shattered tabernacle of clay, for an 
house not made with hands. " There (said he) I shall hold un- 
interrupted fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus 
Christ. I shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of 
an eye. My corruptions, under which I have long groaned, 
and against which I have so long contended, these croaking 
toads, that continually harassed me while here, shall mar my 
felicity no more for ever." Running over the illustrious names 
mentioned in Heb. xi., he said, " All these died in the faith. 
As for me, I could never have imagined that I should possess 
such a measure of faith at this trying hour. No, I could never 
have imagined it. My bow abides in full strength. Is Christ 
divided? No— I have the whole of his righteousness. I am 
found in him, not in mine own righteousness which is of the 



THOMAS GOODWIN. 531 

law, but in the righteousness which is of God by faith in Christ 
Jesus, who loved me, and gave himself also for me. Christ 
cannot love me more than he does ; and I think I cannot love Christ 
better than I do. I am swallowed up in the vast ocean of his 
redeeming love." Addressing himself to his two sons, he ex- 
horted them to watch over their own hearts, and beware of 
provoking God's holy Spirit to depart from, and reject them — 
To value the privileges the gospel offered, and to remember, 
that now is the accepted time, and the day of grace. That 
Christ is still seated on his throne of mercy, and that the door 
of hope still stands open. Another day he will be seated on a 
throne of justice, administering impartial judgment. " My days 
are numbered (said he) ; my work on earth is accomplished — I 
have finished my course; I have kept the faith; I have conquer- 
ed through the strength of the Captain of my salvation; I am 
about to enter on my triumph, and shall shortly receive my 
crown, so shall I be ever with the Lord." 

He died February 23d, 1680, and was interred in a little 
vault towards the east end of the new burial place for dissen- 
ters, joining on the north side of the New Artillery yard, by 
Bunhill-fields. In doctrine Mr Goodwin was a supralapsarian 
Calvinist. He was ever zealous in supporting what he consid- 
ered to be the genuine doctrines of Christianity, and neglected 
not to remind his hearers, or his reader, of the powerful ex- 
citement these sublime doctrines presented to induce christians 
to purity both of heart and life. Dr. Calamy says, " He was a 
very considerable scholar, and an eminent divine. That he had 
a very happy faculty in descanting on scripture, so as to pro- 
duce surprising remarks." He was also a writer of consider- 
able eminence. Dr. Wilkins places him amongst some of the 
most eminent English divines for sermons and practical divini- 
ty; and Dr. Cotton Mather, in his Student and Preacher, says, 
" You have a Goodwin, who will place you among the children 
of light, and give you the marrow of the doctrine according to 
godliness. His style is plain and familiar, but diffuse and tedi- 
ous, though by no means disagreeable to a sober mind. He han^ 
dies his subject with much gravity, and at great length. Fiery 
declamations, or appeals to the passions, discover more enthusi- 
asm than judgment; but Dr. Goodwin's discourses are well di- 
gested, temperate, and attended with conclusive reasoning, hav- 
ing a tendency to impress the mind of the sensible reader with 
the importance of the subject; which reflection confirms, and 
the memory retains." It is said that his writings continue to 
be much esteemed by the Calvinistic independents. 

They are, 1. A Child of Light walking in Darkness. — 2. Se- 
lect Cases Resolved. — 3. Return of Prayer. — -4. The Vanity of 



532 MEMOIR OF 

Vain Thoughts Discovered. — 5. Christ set forth in his Death, 
Resurrection, Ascension, and Intercession, as the cause of Jus- 
tification, and the object of Justifying Faith. — 6. The Trial of 
a Christian's growth in Mortification and Vivification. — 7. The 
Aggravation of Sin, and Sinning against Knowledge. — 8. Christ 
the Universal Peace-maker. — 9. Zerubbabel's encouragement to 
finish the Temple. — 10. The great Interest of Nations. — 11. The 
World to Come. — 12. Patience, and its perfect Work, in the time 
of sudden and sore Trials. — 13. The Punishment of Sin in an after 
State; a posthumous work, published by Mr Thankfull Owen 
and Mr Barron, followed some time after by five volumes folio. 
According to Wood, some part of his works were translated 
into Latin? and printed at Heidelberg in 1658. 



WILLIAM GOUGE, D. D. 

This pious and laborious preacher was born at Stratford- 
bow, in the county of Middlesex, on the 1st November 1575. 
His father, Mr Thomas Gouge, was a devout gentleman, and 
his mother, a very pious woman, the daughter of Mr Nicholas 
Culverwell, a merchant in London. He received his grammati- 
cal education partly at St. Paul's school, London, Felsted in 
Essex, and partly also at Eton. He was three years at Felsted, 
where he was trained up under the care of his uncle, the Rev. 
Ezekiel Culverwell, whose ministry proved highly beneficial to 
the young man; who often observed afterwards, that if he was 
not thereby begotten again to a lively hope, he was much con- 
firmed and built up in the faith of the gospel. At Eton he con- 
tinued six years, where the blossoms of early piety were much 
unfolded. He lived in the fear of God, was attentive to secret 
prayer, and remarkable for his sanctifi cation of the Lord's day, 
at a period perhaps unparalleled in the annals of our national 
history for Sabbath profanation. Having acquired the neces- 
sary proficiency in grammatical learning, he was elected to 
King's college, Cambridge, in 1595, where he prosecuted his 
academical studies with uncommon assiduity and success. He 
began early in the morning, and continued them till a late hour 
at night; and during his first three years did not sleep one night 
without the college-gate; at the expiration of which he was cho- 
sen fellow. He was an acute disputant, and took his degrees, 
at the regular period, with much applause. Mr Gouge remain- 
ed in the college nine years; and unless when visiting his friends 
in the country, he was never absent one day from morning 
prayers; which were usually made in the chapel about half-an- 
hour after five o'clock. Besides his morning devotions, he had 



WILLIAM GOUGE. 533 

charged himself with reading fifteen chapters of God's word 
daily, five of them before public prayers, five after dinner, and 
five before he went to rest; on which he used to meditate till 
he fell asleep. He had, moreover, stated times set apart for 
investigating and searching out the meaning of difficult passa- 
ges; by which he made himself well acquainted with the oracles 
of God, the only pure foundation of all christian theology. 
About this time a Jewish Rabbi came to Cambridge uni- 
versity, and was admitted into several colleges to teach the He- 
brew language. Mr Gouge, and many of the students, embrac- 
ed this favourable opportunity of improving themselves in this 
sacred tongue. A number of them, however, soon became tir- 
ed of their attendance, and left their Jewish instructor. As for 
Mr Gouge, he continued so long as the Jew remained in the 
university. Those who neglected the opportunity of receiving 
instructions while the teacher remained among them, had abun- 
dant reason to regret their supineness when he was gone, and 
were glad to solicit Mr Gouge, who generously condescended to 
instruct them; by which means he considerably improved him- 
self, and became a celebrated Hebrew scholar. He was chosen 
lecturer in the college both in logic and philosophy, and acquir- 
ed an ample share of esteem, from the able manner in which he 
discharged the duties of these important offices. 

In the first year of his fellowship he began his theological 
common place-book, in which he referred to whatever authors 
he read. He had blank paper bound between the leaves of his 
bible, on which he wrote such short and uncommon remarks, or 
interpretations, as might occasionally suggest themselves on the 
text, and might not be referable to any particular head in his 
common place-book. Having thus prosecuted his studies with 
uncommon ardour for nine years, and thereby procured an in- 
timate acquaintance with the various branches of literature, 
particularly those of divinity and the Hebrew tongue, lie was 
called home by his father, and shortly after formed a matrimo- 
nial alliance. In this new state, that he might be left at liberty 
to prosecute his studies without interruption, he conceded the 
secular concerns of his family to his wife. Having completed 
his regular courses, he was admitted into holy orders in 1607; 
and in June, the following year, he was called to the particular 
exercise of his ministry in the parish of Blackfriars, London. 
In this settlement he remained till his death, notwithstanding 
that he had the offer of several more lucrative situations. " The 
height of his ambition (he frequently said) was to remove from 
Blackfriars to heaven." The able and impressive manner in 
which he conducted the pulpit services of the Sabbath, and the 
amiable and condescending spirit manifested in his visiting and 



534f MEMOIR OF 

catechising labours round the parish, drew the affections of his 
people towards him with cords of love. He was eminently la- 
borious in dispensing the truths of the gospel, and distributing 
the bread of life amongst his flock — not his own fancies, or the 
inventions of men, but the sincere milk of the word, that he 
might thereby promote their growth in grace, and in the saving 
knowledge of Christ, always endeavouriug to comfort the de- 
jected, strengthen the weak, and bind up the broken-hearted. 
Mr Gouge was so eminently exemplary, during the whole course 
of his life, that scoffers of the prelatical party used to call him 
the arch-puritan. 

He was admitted bachelor of divinity in 161 1, and doctor in 
1628; about which time he became one of the trustees of a so- 
ciety, which had united with the design of buying up impropri- 
ations, to bestow on clergymen distinguished for their piety and 
ministerial qualifications. This occasioned his being prosecut- 
ed in the star-chamber. The society intended, by these means, 
to plant a learned and powerful ministry, especially in the cities 
and market-towns, where the people were most destitute; but 
the court adjudged their proceedings illegal, and dissolved the 
society. 

In 1643 Dr. Gouge was nominated a member of the assem- 
bly of divines; and was so much esteemed by that learned body, 
that, in absence of their prolocutor, they frequently called him 
to the chair. He was a constant attendant, and so parsimoni- 
ous of his time, that he always carried the bible and other books 
along with him, with which he might employ himself when any 
intermission of the assembly's business took place. On Sep- 
tember 25th of the same year, when the House of Commons, 
the Scotch commissioners, and the assembly of divines, met in 
St. Margaret's church, Westminster, to subscribe the covenant, 
Dr. Gouge concluded the solemn service of the day with prayer. 
In 1647 he was chosen prolocutor of the first session of the pro- 
vincial assembly held at Blackfriars; which he opened with a 
sermon. During the same year he was chosen one of the com- 
mittee appointed to compile the Confession of Faith; and the 
year following he was one of the committee appointed to draw 
up annotations on the bible. His share of this useful work 
consisted of first Kings, and the subsequent books down to 
Esther, inclusive. In the same year he also united with his 
brethren, in London and its vicinity, in their declaration against 
the king's death. When the Book of Sports came out, Dr. 
Gouge absolutely refused to read it. He was determined ra- 
ther to suffer than to sin, by encouraging profane sports on the 
Lord's holy day. He was always particularly careful that the 
public exercises of the house of God should be conducted with 



WILLIAM GOUGE. 535 

regularity and decorous propriety, and likewise that secret de- 
votion and family-worship should be conscientiously kept up in 
his parish. He never allowed his servants to absent themselves 
from church for the purpose of cooking, whatever company he 
might expect. He had an excellent talent for solving cases of 
conscience, and was eminently successful in restoring joy and 
comfort to disconsolate souls. Many of the ministers consulted 
him in difficult cases; on which account he was considered the 
father of the London divines, and the oracle of his own time. 
He was compared to Moses for his meekness and quietness of 
spirit, and, not easily provoked himself, few men were ever 
so careful to give no cause of provocation to others. For in- 
juries received, his enemies had always prayers in return. He 
used to say, "That revilers and evil-doers hurt themselves 
much more than those they intended to injure." Dr. Gouge 
abounded in charity and good works, and laid out his substance 
to the most useful purposes. The poor of Christ's flock, and 
persons in affliction, obtained a liberal share both of his means 
and his kind attention. He generously assisted several poor 
scholars at the university; and, like a faithful steward, laid out 
the means and the talents, with which he had been entrusted, 
for the honour of the Giver, and the advantage of his people. 
Being an extraordinary preacher, multitudes from all quarters 
flocked to hear him; yet was he never lifted up on that account, 
but used to say, " I know in myself more cause of humility and 
self-abasement than others do to praise or exalt me." 

Dr. Gouge was an excellent scholar, familiarly acquainted 
with the original languages, and every department of useful 
learning. He was a laborious student, rose early both summer 
and winter, and was sorry when he heard others at work before 
he got to his study. He had a great concern for the welfare of 
the foreign churches. When he heard of their prosperity, he 
greatly rejoiced, and praised God; but when he was informed 
of their afflictions, he sat down and wept, and mourned, fasted, 
and prayed to the God of heaven. In the decline of life he 
was sorely afflicted with an asthma and the stone. While un- 
der the pressure of these painful maladies, he often groaned, 
but never murmured. "Be silent, my soul (he would say), be 
patient, it is thy God who has thus ordered thy state. Thou 
hast deserved much more than this. It is enough thou art kept 
out of hell. Though thy pain be grievous, it is tolerable. Thy 
God affords thee some intermissions. He will at last turn all 
to thy good, remove every complaint, and crown thee with ever- 
lasting consolation. Shall we receive good at the hand of God ? 
and shall we not also receive his paternal chastisements for our 
manifold transgressions?" His friends would sometimes en- 



536 MEMOIR OF 

deavour to comfort him, by noticing his labours, integrity, and 
usefulness in the church. " Alas ! (said he) I dare think of 
none of these things as a ground of comfort. Christ himself, 
and what he hath done and suffered, is my alone ground of hope 
and consolation. I, who am a great sinner, disclaim all merit 
for my best services, which are stained with every kind of pol- 
lution. But I comfort myself in an all-sufficient Saviour. 
When I look into myself, all is emptiness, weakness, poverty, 
and pollution; but when I turn mine eyes towards Christ, there 
I behold matchless love, mercy, and almighty power, engaged 
in effecting my eternal welfare. This, this is my crown of rejoicing, 
and the foundation on which I have erected my hopes for eter- 
nity." Amid all his afflictions, Dr. Gouge was still intent on 
his studies. He was writing a commentary on the Epistle to 
the Hebrews, which he was very anxious to have finished before 
his departure, and which he effected till within half of the last 
chapter. When he became so weak that he could no longer 
rise out of his bed, he said, " Now my days on earth are nearly 
run. The time of my departure is at hand. I am going to my 
desired haven, where the winds of adversity shall no longer op- 
pose my course, nor the surges of affliction lash my weak and 
crazy bark; but where the inhabitants, rescued from the snares 
and temptations, the sufferings, and all the sorrows of mortali- 
ty, dwell in peace and assurance for ever. I go with cheerful- 
ness, having, blessed be God, nothing more to do but only to 
die; and, next to Christ Jesus, I consider death as my best and 
most useful friend, who will break the fetters by which the 
aspiring soul is imprisoned in this crumbling tabernacle of clay, 
and detained from joining the church of the first-born." As the 
hour of his departure drew nigh, his spirit became more cheer- 
ful and animated than it had been for several days before, and 
Ms discourses were now as if he had already joined the society 
of heaven. " Mark the perfect, and behold the man of upright- 
ness; verily the latter end of this man is peace." He died in 
great comfort, December 12th, 1653, and in the seventy-ninth 
year of his age. 

Mr Neal says, "He was a modest, humble, and affable per- 
son, of strict and exemplary piety, an universal scholar, and a 
most constant preacher, so long as he was able to get up into the 
pulpit." Dr. Calamy observes, " That he was a man of as emi- 
nent a reputation, for ministerial abilities, strict piety, and in- 
defatigable labours for the good of souls, as most ministers that 
ever were in the city." Granger says, " He was offered the 
provostship of King's college, Cambridge; but declined accept- 
ing it; and that he was laborious, exemplary, and so much be- 
loved, that none ever thought or spoke ill of him, excepting 



WILLIAM GOUGE. 537 

such as were disposed to think or speak ill of religion itself. 
He is classed among the learned writers and distinguished 
worthies of this college." Wood styles him a pious and learn- 
ed divine, and says he is often honourably mentioned by Vceti- 
us and Stresso, and other learned and foreign divines. Mr 
William Jenkins was about twelve years helper to Dr. Gouge, 
succeeded him in the pastoral office at Blackfriars, and preach- 
ed his funeral sermon. 

His works are, 1. Eight Treatises on Domestic Duties. — 2. 
The whole Armour of God. — 3. On the Sin against the Holy 
Ghost. — 4. Two Catechisms. — 5. A Guide to go to God. — 6. 
God's three Arrows, Famine, Pestilence, and the Sword. — 7. 
The Extent of Divine Providence. — 8. The Dignity of Chivalry. 
— 9. The Saint's Sacrifice. — 10. Two Treatises, one on the Sab- 
bath, the other on Apostacy. — 11. The Saint's Support, a Ser- 
mon preached to the Commons. — 12. Mary's Memorial. — 13. 
The Progress of Divine Providence, a Sermon before the Lords. 
— 14. A Funeral Sermon for Mrs Duck. — 15. The Right Way, 
a Sermon before the House of Lords. — 16. A Commentary on 
the Epistle to the Hebrews. Wood styles this Commentary a 
learned and useful work; and the pious bishop Wilkins classes 
Dr. Gouge's sermons among those which he denominates the 
best of his time. 



STANLEY GOWER. 

This puritan divine was a man of considerable eminence 
in the church of Christ. He was some time minister of 
Brompton-bryan, in the county of Hereford. In 1643 he was 
chosen one of the members of the assembly of divines, and 
stands marked in Neal's list as giving regular attendance. On 
his removal to London, he preached at Martin's in Ludgate 
Street, and was also one of the preachers before the parliament. 
In a sermon which he preached before the Commons, he en- 
treats them to receive it as a divine maxim, that piety is the 
best policy, and that, according to the judgment of the Holy 
Ghost, godliness is not only the greatest wisdom, but also the 
greatest gain. He was nominated, by the assembly, one of the 
committee for the examination and approbation of ministers 
who petitioned for sequestrated livings; and, in 1644, he was 
also chosen one of the committee for ordination by imposition 
of hands. He was, moreover, one of the London ministers who 
made a public declaration against the trial and death of the 
king. According to Rennet's chronicle, he was minister at 
Dorchester in 1660, and is there denominated a zealous and 
20 3 y 



538 MEMOIR OF 

eminent presbyterian divine. Mr Gower wrote the Life of Mr 
Richard Roth well, published in Clarke's Lives, annexed to his 
martyrology. He also published a sermon, entitled, Things 
now a-doing, or the Church's Travail of the Child of Reforma- 
tion now a-bearing. In applying this sermon, he warmly ex- 
horted his audience to display their zeal in reforming the house 
of God according to the divine pattern; to deny themselves, and 
be ready cheerfully to sacrifice whatever habits, prejudices, 
opinions, or interests stood in the way, or were necessary to 
render it like Mount Zion, the glory of the whole earth. " For 
your encouragement (says he), in this important business, 
should any of you sleep with your fathers, before your eyes 
see this great salvation of the Lord, know, for certain, that 
your posterity will inherit -the blessing, and reap the happy 
fruits of your zeal and liberality; and as for yourselves, it will 
be honour sufficient that you expire while zealous and active 
promoters of a cause so transcendently glorious. 



JOHN GREENE, M. A. 

This learned and pious puritan divine was for some time 
pastor of Pencombe, in the county of Hereford; where he care- 
fully watched over his flock, warned them of the dangers with 
which they were threatened, and fed them with knowledge and 
understanding. He was a bold opposer of the Book of Sports, 
the royal declaration concerning which grieved him so much, 
that, at the risk of both his living and his liberty, he denounced 
it as blasphemy against the God of heaven, who has said, "Six days 
shalt thou labour and do all thy work; but the seventh is the rest of 
the Lord thy God." " Nor is it merely blasphemy (says he), it 
is also, to all intents and purposes, sacrilegious robbery. Can 
a man rob God ? Yet the authors and abetters of this cursed 
Book of Sports, not satisfied with six days graciously allowed 
them for their own concerns, while he claims but one for him- 
self, with heaven-daring arrogance, have seized upon, and ap- 
propriated this one day in seven also to their own purposes and 
pleasures." In a sermon, preached to the House of Commons, 
he says, " These were my meditations on the forth-coming of 
that abominable book; nor did I suppress my sentiments. 
When hearing, in the neighbouring parishes, drums beating for 
a morris-dance or a May-pole on the Sabbath of the Lord our 
God, I could not suppress my fear that such conduct would 
provoke him to pour out the vials of his wrath on a nation so 
audaciously wicked, and that we should yet hear drums beating 
on the Lord's day for very different purposes; and the Lord has 






JOHN GREENE. 539 

brought our fears upon us. Alas ! how many marches have 
we seen on that day since the commencement of these bloody 
and unnatural wars ? But let us hope, says he, that the many 
ordinances, passed for the suppression of such daring profanity, 
will, through the mercy of God, prove the effectual means of 
quenching our unnatural flames — if to good laws, which are 
the life-blood of a state, be added a conscientious execution, 
which is the life of the laws." According to Dr. Calamy, he 
died in the very week that he was preparing to quit his living 
upon the Bartholomew Act, in 1660. 



WILLIAM GREENHILL, A. M. 

Mr Greenhill was born in Oxfordshire in 1591, and en- 
tered a student of Magdalen college, Oxford, in 1604, being 
thirteen years of age. In 1612 he took his degrees in arts; but 
when he entered into the ministry we have not been able to as- 
certain. In 1643 he was chosen a member of the assembly of 
divines. At this time he was at Stepney near London, where, 
according to Wood, "by expressing himself as a rank covenan- 
ter, he was made a member of the assembly of divines by the 
long parliament; and, about the same time, an afternoon lectu- 
rer at Stepney." Mr Greenhill was an attending member of 
that assembly, and one of the dissenting brethren. He was a 
zealous puritan, and a determined opposer of the prelatical go- 
vernment, and the superstitious rites and manifold corruptions 
of the church of England; for which he suffered much from the 
intolerant decisions of the court of high commission. He was 
one of those divines in the assembly who subscribed the propo- 
sition — " That Jesus Christ, as King of the church, has him- 
self appointed a church government distinct from the civil 
magistrate." According to Dr. Calamy, Mr Greenhill was 
the person pitched upon for chaplain to the king*s children, the 
dukes of York and Gloucester, and the lady Henrietta. He is 
said to have been in favour with Oliver Cromwell in his time, 
and appointed one of the thirty-eight commissioners for the 
examination and approbation of preachers. Bishop Kennet, 
in speaking of these commissioners, says, "By the questions 
they were wont to ask, no man could tell, or even guess, what 
they aimed at, unless it was to advance quakerism, or make 
way for the mahometan faith." 

Mr Greenhill continued preacher at Stepney till the year 
1660, when he was ejected, with the rest of his brethren, by the 
act of uniformity. At what period this zealous reformer slept 
with his fathers we have not been able to learn; but his library 



540 MEMOIR OF 

having been sold in 1677, makes it probable that his death had 
taken place some short time before. In Dr. Calamy's account 
of the ejected ministers, he says, " That Mr Greenhill was a 
worthy man, and much valued for his great learning and un- 
wearied labours." Mr Howe, in his funeral sermon for Mi- 
Mead, speaking of his connection with Mr Greenhill, styles him, 
"That eminent servant of God, whose praise is still in the 
churches." 

We shall conclude this memoir with a quotation from his ex- 
position of the prophecy of Ezekiel. 

" In this verse the prophet is forewarned of the difficulties 
that were opposed to the faithful discharge of his commission : 
Told that he would find briers, thorns, nay, even scorpions, in 
his way : That he had need therefore to look about him, to be- 
ware of getting entangled in the thickets, to be cautious not to 
tread on the scorpions that might conceal themselves amongst 
the grass — interested men, who have, in all ages> hated re- 
formation, and opposed the purposes of all such as have been 
engaged therein. They have endeavoured to entangle them, 
and retard their progress; and, with all the cunning of the old 
serpent, attempted to deceive, mislead, and destroy both them 
and the cause in which they have been embarked. When 
Christ sent forth his disciples, he apprized them of their danger 
from this malicious brood, and therefore admonishes them, 
while they imitated the dove in harmlessness, to imitate the 
serpent also in wisdom and prudential regard to their own safe- 
ty — to be cautious not to give unnecessary occasion of irrita- 
tion to wicked men, most of whom are more dangerous than 
tigers, wolves, and fiery-flying serpents, especially to those en- 
gaged in the important work of reforming the abuses of either 
church or state, 

" In Joshua's army we find there was an Achan in the camp. 
Nehemiah, while he was busily engaged in rebuilding the deso- 
late house of God, had to contend with Tobiah and Sanballat, 
who scoffed and jeered him for his apparently hopeless under- 
taking; while even the nobles of Judah basely attempted to be- 
tray him. 

" The reformation amongst our slaves is a great, a glorious 
undertaking; but are we free from those thorns and scorpions, 
which in all ages have stood in the way of reforming the 
church of the living God ? Alas ! have we not reason to com- 
plain, that while our enemies are many, even amongst our- 
selves, some are luke-warm, some unfaithful, some unqualified, 
and others so sullied by their crimes, that the work is retard- 
ed, and sometimes put back more in one day than all their 
headsj hands, purses, and prayers s can forward it in many. 






WILLIAM GREENHILL. .541 

There are men employed in this great work who are Achans, 
Sanballats, and Judases. I will not say that this is the only 
cause, but assuredly it is a principal one, why the work of re- 
formation so sadly languishes amongst our hands. But seeing 
matters of the first importance, of the greatest weight and con- 
sideration, either in church or state, have ever had their lets and 
impediments, their rubs and their mountains of opposition, by 
which they disappoint mens wishes and eager anticipations, in 
not coming to the birth at the hour of expectation, let us not 
relax in our endeavours, but prosecute our purpose with in- 
creasing vigour and perseverance; and let us pity and pray for 
the parliament, the army, the magistracy, and the ministry, now 
engaged in this difficult and dangerous work." 

His writings are, 1. The Axe at the Root; a Sermon preach- 
ed before the House of Commons. — 2. An Exposition of the 
Prophecy of Ezekiel, in 5 vols. 4to. — 3. Christ's last Discovery 
of himself. — 4. A Sermon, from Ezek. xliii. 2. to the Com- 
mons. — 5. Sermon from Ezek. xviii. 32. in the morning exer- 
cises at Cripplegate. — 6. The Sound-hearted Christian — with 
several other sermons. 



HUMPHREY HARDWICK. 

This persecuted puritan was minister at Hadam-magna, 
in the county of Hertford, and chosen one of the superadded 
members of the assembly of divines. He had suffered much 
under the prelatical tyranny; and, during the war, his house 
was ransacked, and his whole library carried away by the king's 
army, and himself so reduced to poverty, that he had it not in 
his power to purchase a single book of any importance. He 
had been silenced by the bishops; and, on the commencement 
of the war, took part with the parliament, and joined the army, 
with which he remained during the greater part of that sangui- 
nary period. In a sermon, preached before the House of Com- 
mons, he ranks himself among the silenced puritans; and, in 
the epistle dedicatory to that House, prefixed to the same ser- 
mon, he says, " No man, I presume, has more reason to apolo- 
gise than myself, having been, for a long time, deprived of my 
library, which was wholly plundered; besides being, from the 
commencement of this war, till the last month, entirely con- 
versant with arms, where study is almost wholly interrupted. 
But this, says he, I account part of my greatest happiness, to 
have suffered much for the cause of Christ, and to have render- 
ed some little service to my weeping country." Mr Hard wick 
was an active promoter of the reformation: and to warm the 



54f c 2 MEMOIR OF 

zeal of his auditors, in this important work, he says, in the same 
sermon, " Search the book of God, and tell me, Whether any de- 
scription of men are so precious in the estimation of heaven, as 
those who have been courageous in defending the cause of God, 
and promoting the reformation of his church ? Mark the forti- 
tude displayed by Caleb and Joshua, while the rest of their as- 
sociates, whose timidity had magnified the size and prowess of 
their enemies, and the strength of their bulwarks, meanly 
shrunk from the noble enterprise, and lost their part and 
portion in the land of promise." He was a strenuous advo- 
cate for the solemn league and covenant, and the suppression 
of the prelatical government of the church. One of his ser- 
mons has been published, entitled, The Difficulty of Zion's De- 
liverance, together with the activity which her friends should 
manifest while her cause is in agitation — delivered at Marga- 
ret's church, Westminster, before the House of Commons, on 
Wednesday morning, the 26th June 1644. 



ROBERT HARRIS. 

This pious and learned puritan divine was born at Broad 
Campden in Gloucestershire, 1578. His father was a prudent and 
intelligent man, and his mother a religious and charitable wo- 
man. Under their tuition he passed his childhood; but disco- 
vered, in this early period of his life, an uncommon propensity 
for play, and little affection for his book. His parents having 
designed him either for the law or the church, according as his 
parts and inclination might point the way, sent him to the free 
school of Chipping-campden. Here his school-masters were 
often changed, owing to a deficiency of salary, and some of 
them beat their scholars without mercy. Mr Harris, so far 
as he remembered, had never felt the smart of the rod in any 
school; yet the daily floggings which others received, brought 
such a trembling and sadness over his spirit, as never wholly 
forsook him so long as he lived. He often said, " That such 
treatment was the ruin of many promising boys." From this 
he was removed to the school at Worcester, under the super- 
intendance of Mr Bright; and on Sabbath attended the mini- 
strations of Dr. Robert Abbots. In the latter end of the year 
1595 he removed to Magdalen college, Oxford, where he disco- 
vered an uncommon thirst for knowledge, and soon began to 
taste the sweetness of useful learning. He became an excellent 
scholar, a famous logician, and an acute disputant. Here, by 
the blessing of God on his studies, and the pious instructions of 
his tutor, he was brought to a saving acquaintance with the 
gospel, and soon after became a celebrated puritan. 



ROBERT HARRIS. 543 

He preached his first sermon at Chipping-campden, in his 
native county; but such was the ignorance of the times, that 
when he came to the church there was no bible to be found. 
The vicar of the parish had a bible; but as it had not been seen 
for many months, it required no small search before it could be 
found. Having procured the sacred oracles, he went to church, 
and preached an admirable sermon from Rom. x. 1. This ser- 
mon met with much applause; but the preacher often said, 
" That he lost by the bargain." He found himself in danger of 
being exalted above measure by the abundance of his success in 
this his first attempt; besides, that his friends began to advise 
him to leave the university, and come amongst them, saying, 
" He had a sufficiency of academical learning already." His 
father, who had a large family, was likewise anxious to have 
him settled in the church. This, however, he declined, and re- 
quested whatever more patrimony he was pleased to allow him, 
that he might still prosecute his studies in the university; which, 
with considerable difficulty, he obtained. But soon after this 
the university was visited with a dreadful pestilence, and the 
students were all dispersed. He was unwilling to return home, 
and where to go he knew not. In the midst of this perplexity, 
one Mr Doyly, a gentleman of a very ancient family, and 
friendly to the gospel of Christ, who lived a short way from 
Oxford, invited him to his house. Mrs Doyly was a pious and 
intelligent woman, and here Mr Harris had a very comfortable 
situation. Mr Prior, the minister of the place, was, at this 
time, in a weakly state, and overburdened with preaching both 
on the Lord's days, and also at extraordinary fasts, which were 
then appointed on account of the plague; and Mr Harris having 
preached some times out of compassion for Mr Prior, was so 
well received, that he was requested to continue some time; 
which he did, till providence opened the door for a more per- 
manent settlement. 

Mr Dod having been silenced, and afterwards ejected from 
Han well, for his non-conformity, Sir Anthony Cope invited 
Mr Harris to become his successor. He accordingly removed 
thither with much grief and fear. The people of Hanwell were 
so firmly attached to their former pastor, that they would ac- 
knowledge no man in his place. At last, however, it was 
agreed that Mr Harris might preach so long as hopes could be 
entertained of recovering Mr Dod. During this unsettled state 
of things at Hanwell, archbishop Bancroft presented the living 
to one of his chaplains, on pretence of a lapse. But Sir An- 
thony Cope, then sitting in parliament, together with several 
other members, waited upon the archbishop, and presented Mr 
Harris; whom his grace, after a long contest, reluctantly ad- 
mitted to the living. 



544 MEMOIR OF 

But Sir Anthony having, on a former occasion, thrown out 
some hints against the intolerant procedure of the prelates, Ban- 
croft embraced this occasion of shewing him his resentment; and 
with the design of thwarting his request, had Mr Harris ex- 
amined by one of his most learned chaplains, who reported Mr 
Harris to be moderately learned. This proving unsatisfactory 
to the archbishop, he was again examined by bishop Barlow, a 
man well suited to Bancroft's wishes. Barlow was a man of 
great wit and learning, and esteemed an excellent critic in the 
Greek language, as the story is reported. They Greeked it till 
they ran a-ground for lack of words, when both burst into a fit 
of laughter. Barlow returned to the archbishop; and on deli- 
vering a most favourable report of Mr Harris' learning and ta- 
lents, his grace suffered himself to be satisfied. 

Mr Harris being now settled at Hanwell, Mr Scudder at 
Drayton, and Mr Whately at Banbury, they became particu- 
larly intimate, and united both in judgment and affection. Mr 
Harris married Mr Whately's sister; and Mr Scudder the sister 
of his wife. They commonly met together once a-week to 
translate and analyze a chapter of the bible. This practice 
served to stir them up to greater diligence, and, at the same 
time, promoted their mutual edification. Though thus com- 
fortably settled, Mr Harris was not without his trials. His 
faith and patience was severely tried by the long and painful 
illness of his wife. " This affliction (said Mr Dod) was design- 
ed to season him for his work;" and he says himself, " I should 
have been spoiled had I not been thus brought down. Young 
ministers know not on what ground they tread, till God makes 
them humble." He, nevertheless, found much encouragement 
in his work — the people began to relish his ministry, and the 
Lord abundantly blessed his labours. He did not feed them 
with airy notions, and empty speculations, but with the sincere 
milk of the word, and in a method adapted to the meanest ca- 
pacity; and God, it is said, so wonderfully blessed his endea- 
vours, that there was not one pray erl ess family in Hanwell, nor 
one who refused his examination and instructions previous to 
receiving the sacrament. 

In this situation Mr Harris continued forty years, blessed in 
himself, and a blessing to all around him, until the commence- 
ment of the civil wars. The battle of Edgehill, only a few miles 
distant, was fought on Sabbath, October 23d, 1642; but the 
wind being contrary, he did not hear the smallest noise of it 
till the public exercises of the day were over; nor would he be- 
lieve the report, till he saw the wounded soldiers besmeared 
with blood. From this time his troubles increased, rude sol- 
diers were quartered upon him; some of them called him round- 



ROBERT HARRIS. 545 

head, others malignant — still, however, he continued to dis- 
charge his numerous duties as at other times. One company, 
quartered upon him, was so outrageous for swearing, that he 
could not avoid preaching upon James v. 12. " Above all 
things, my brethren, swear not at all." This so offended them, 
that they swore they would shoot him if he preached again 
from the same text. Undismayed by their threatenings, he, 
nevertheless, ventured next Sabbath to preach from the same 
words, when, as he was preaching, he observed one of the sol- 
diers preparing his firelock as if he intended to shoot. But Mi- 
Harris went on without fear, and finished his discourse without 
interruption. Here he endured the storm till he had suffered 
material injury, and was at last driven from his place, after be- 
holding his tenements, wood, and nurseries on fire, and him- 
self threatened. 

Being driven from his flock, Mr Harris fled to London, and 
was there chosen one of the assembly of divines, and preacher 
at Botolph's church, Bishopgate. He was also one of the 
preachers before the parliament; and, in 1646, he was one of 
the six preachers sent to Oxford to soften down the people to 
the presbyterian rule; and, the year following, one of the visi- 
tors to that university. Dr. Walker, in whose eyes no puritan 
could ever find grace, among other slanders, says, " That these 
visitors began their visitation, as they did all their other distin- 
guished works of wickedness, with prayers and a sermon." The 
sermon alluded to was preached by Mr Harris, who, at the 
same time, took his doctor's degree, became president of Trinity 
college, and was made rector *of Garlington, near Oxford. He 
governed the college with great prudence, and soon gained the 
affections of the fellows and students, who reverenced him as a 
father. 

In his last sickness, having been desired to admit company, 
he said, " It is all one to me whether I be left alone or in the 
company of my friends. My principal work now is to arm my- 
self against the encounter of the last enemy." Accordingly, he 
gave himself up to prayer, meditation, and reading the scrip- 
tures, especially the book of Psalms, the prophecy of Isaiah, 
and the gospel by John, the tenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, six- 
teenth, and seventeenth chapters of which afforded him inex- 
pressible delight. When he became unable to read, and his 
friends performed that friendly office for him, he would gather 
up the principal things contained in the chapter, explain the 
difficult parts, and feast deliciously on the spiritual provision 
therein presented. He warmly recommended it to all those 
who visited him, to put on the whole armour of God, to ad- 
vance against their spiritual foes in the strength of the Captain 

20 3 z 



546 MEMOIR OF 

of their salvation, to hold out against all temptations, and be- 
ware of all the wiles and stratagems of satan. " Endure to the 
end (said he), and the issue shall be a never-fading crown, 
and a kingdom which cannot be moved." Being asked whence 
he derived so much comfort under such heavy affliction, and in 
the prospect of approaching death, he replied, " I have it all 
from Christ, and the free and unmerited grace of God, who 
hath reconciled me to himself." Some mentioned his great 
labours, and the service he had done to the cause of pure and 
undefiled religion. " Alas ! (said he) I have done nothing as 
I ought. Without Christ my best works would condemn me. 
I am ashamed of them, they are so much polluted with sin. 
The loss of precious time sits heavily on my spirit. I beseech 
you all, said he, work while it is day, the night cometh in which 
no man can work; and, be assured, that nothing will give you 
greater trouble when you come to die, than the gloomy reflec- 
tion, that you have done so little for God, who has done so 
much for you." When his friends asked him what they could 
do for him, he replied, " You must not Only pray for me, but 
you must likewise praise God for his unspeakable mercy and 
loving-kindness towards me. Oh ! how good is our God — 
entertain good thoughts of him — we can never think too well 
of him, nor too ill of ourselves. I am now going home, even 
quite spent — I have reached the shore, and am about to leave 
you still tossed by the tempest, and out at sea." Being asked by 
a friend how he did, he answered, " In no great pain, I praise 
God, only weary of my useless life. If God has no more work 
for me, I would be glad to be in heaven, where I shall serve 
him without distraction. If he has any more work for me here, 
I am willing to do it, though my infirm body be very weary. 
I am not afraid of death, I praise God — I can live, and I dare 
die. I have lived, and I shall die, in the faith which I have 
preached; and now, in the immediate prospect of death, it affords 
my soul unspeakable comfort." He resigned his soul to God, 
and closed his eyes in peace, December 1 1th, 1658, aged eighty 
years. 

Mr Clark gives the following account of Dr. Harris' endow- 
ments : " That he was a laborious student, endowed with ex- 
cellent parts, and furnished with all manner of learning neces- 
sary for a divine — a pure and elegant Latinist, very exact in 
the Hebrew, and admired as a subtile, clear, and ready dispu- 
tant. He excelled in chronology, church history, and in the 
knowledge of the fathers; but his talents were most observable 
in the pulpit. In prayer his affections were warm, his language 
pertinent, unaffected, serious, and without tautology. He 
preached with learned plainness, unfolding the great mysteries 



ROBERT HARRIS. 547 

of the gospel to the weakest capacity. He valued no man for 
his gifts, but for his humility; nor did he expect much from 
men of parts, whatever these might be, till they were broken 
down by temptations and afflictions. He was a man of great 
moderation with respect to church discipline, and ruled his own 
house with all christian prudence and propriety. In a word, 
he was richly furnished with every necessary qualification for 
rendering him a wise governor, a profitable preacher, and an 
excellent christian." 

This account, from the impartial pen of Mr Clark, who must 
have been well acquainted with Dr. Harris, has, nevertheless, 
been opposed by Dr. Walker, who stigmatizes him for a notori- 
ous pluralist, and rests the evidence of his calumny on the au- 
thority of a scurrilous and abusive letter, put forth for the pur- 
pose of pouring contempt on the puritans. The doctor, wish- 
ing farther to render his story feasible, says, " He had some- 
where read, that in those days Dr. Harris' picture was drawn 
with a steeple on his head, and others coming out of his pockets. 
Pluralities are so evidently contrary to scripture, and opposed 
to common sense, reason, and fair-dealing, that they are utterly 
indefensible." The doctor's satire here, however, had been 
much more seasonable, had it so happened that pluralities had 
nowhere existed amongst rigid churchmen. 

Dr. Harris himself has given the following open and candid 
declaration on this subject. " I stood clear (says he) in mine 
own conscience, and also in theirs who best knew me. I was 
far from allowing either non-residence or a plurality of livings; 
yet, to such as were ignorant of all the circumstances, there 
was at least some appearance of evil." 

It is evident he possessed several benefices; but whether he 
received the profits of them all, or enjoyed them all at the same 
time, appears extremely doubtful. Though Dr. Gray denomi- 
nates him a fanatical hero, and a professed enemy to the con- 
stitution, both in church and state, yet he, in part, acquits him 
of this vile charge, and in a great measure invalidates the au- 
thority of the above scurrilous letter. 

The Oxford historian brings another accusation against Dr. 
Harris, which, if true, would prove him one of the basest of men. 
He charges him with having taken, for his own use, two bags of 
gold, containing one hundred pounds each, which he found 
amongst some old rubbish in Trinity college soon after becom- 
ing president; and, moreover, that he told several most glaring 
falsehoods with a view to secure the money to himself. Though 
our documents do not afford materials to refute the whole of 
these charges, yet all that has been asserted to his prejudice, 
and especially the worst part of it 5 is so. diametrically opposed to 



548 MEMOIR OF 

the uniform spirit and deportment of this learned and pious di- 
vine, that the account appears extremely suspicious, and only 
designed to reproach the memory of the puritans. — Dr. Harris' 
last will and testament contains much excellent advice to his 
wife and numerous children; but is too long for insertion. 

His works came forth at different times, and were afterwards 
collected and published in one volume folio in 1654. The 
pious bishop Wilkins passes a very high encomium upon his 
sermons. 

CHARLES HERLE, A. M. 

Mr He rle was born at Prideaux Herle, in the county of 
Cornwall, and educated in Exeter college, Oxford. In 1618 
he took his degrees in arts; and having finished his studies at 
the university, entered on the work of the ministry. His first 
settlement was at some place in Devonshire; but having been 
accounted a puritan, he was subjected to considerable per- 
secution on account of his non-conformity. After this he 
was made rector of Winwick in Lancashire, said to be one of 
the richest livings in England. Upon the commencement of 
the civil war, Mr Herle attached himself to parliament, was 
elected a member of the assembly of divines, and, upon the de- 
mise of Dr. Twisse, chosen prolocutor to that assembly. He 
was, moreover, chosen one of the morning lecturers at the Ab- 
bey church, Westminster, one of the licensers for the theologi- 
cal department of the press, one of the committee for the exa- 
mination and ordination of ministers, one of the committee of 
accommodation, and one of those appointed to prepare materials 
for the Confession of Faith. He was accounted a moderate 
presbyterian. In licensing the apology of the independents, he 
calls it a performance full of peaceableness, modesty, and can- 
dour; and in speaking elsewhere on the same subject, he says, 
" The difference between us and our brethren who are for in- 
dependency, is by no means so great as you seem to conceive. 
At most, it only, in a small degree, ruffles the fringe, but in no 
way rends the seamless garment of Christ. It is so far from 
being a fundamental, that it can scarcely be called a material 
difference." In his speech at the dissolution of the assembly, 
Mr Herle, in name of his brethren, thanked the honourable and 
reverend commissioners from Scotland for their seasonable and 
important assistance in the laborious work in which the assem- 
bly had so long been engaged, at the same time apologizing, in 
the best manner he could, that the directory for worship was 
not so strictly adhered to as it ought. He confessed that their 
affairs were still greatly embarrassed, and in much confusion, 
while the enemy was high and powerful. Mr Herle and Mr 



CHARLES HERLE. 549 

Stephen Marshall were appointed to attend the commissioners 
of parliament into Scotland, with the view of giving the Scotch 
a just idea of the affairs of England, particularly those of the 
church. — After the king's death Mr Herle retired to his flock 
and ministerial duties at Winwick, where he continued the rest 
of his days. 

In the year 1651, the earl of Derby having raised a regiment 
of soldiers for Charles II., then on his march from Scotland, he 
sent lieutenant Arundel, with about forty horse, to Mr Herle's 
house at Winwick; which filled the whole family with terror 
and consternation. Calling for Mr Herle, Arundel said, " My 
business is to tell you, that the earl of Derby wishes to see you 
with all speed ; and if you will go, you have nothing to fear 
either for yourself or family/' Mr Herle replied, " I shall go 
with you immediately, and speak with the earl my patron;" and 
accordingly ordered out his horse. After kindly entertaining 
the lieutenant and his men, Mr Herle attended them to the 
earl's quarters, who received and treated him with the greatest 
civility; and after some friendly conversation, sent him back 
with a guard for his protection. The battle of Warrington- 
bridge was fought in this year; and Arundel's forces being 
routed, and himself wounded, he retired to Mr Herle's house, 
where he was treated with the utmost kindness. 

During the same year, Mr Herle, together with Mr Isaac 
Ambrose, Mr Edward Gee, and some others, was appointed as- 
sistant to the commissioners for ejecting ignorant and scanda- 
lous ministers and school-masters in Lancashire. Dr. Gray 
says, " That he acted with great severity in this office; and that 
his public sermons sufficiently testified how well he was quali- 
fied for such dirty work." To make good his assertions, the 
doctor has transcribed from those sermons the following sen- 
tences : " Do justice to the greatest. Saul's sons are not spar- 
ed, no, nor Agag, nor Benhadad, though themselves kings. 
Zimri and Cozbi, though princes of the people, must be pursu- 
ed to their tents. What an army of martyrs has God given to 
the fire for our reformation at first ? and what a calendar of 
traitors has he given to the gallows for our preservation since ?" 
Every reader, at all acquainted with the cruel mandates of the 
episcopalian courts, can easily discover the import of the doc- 
tor's animadversions — the tables were now turned, and the 
sting taken out of the prelatic anathemas; and losers, we all 
know, claim a right to complain; besides, the character of Mr 
Herle is too firmly established to be shaken by any such ill-na- 
tured sarcasms, especially considering that the assertions charg- 
ed are incontrovertible facts. 

Mr Herle, with the assistance of several other ministers, or- 



550 MEMOIR OF 

dained Mr Howe in his own church at Win wick. On which ac- 
count the latter would sometimes say, " That few in modern 
times had such a primitive ordination; for he considered Mr 
Herle a primitive bishop." He was a moderate presbyterian, 
greatly beloved by his brethren in the ministry, and author of 
several practical and controversial writings. Fuller denomi- 
nates him a good scholar, and a deep divine, and so much the 
christian, the scholar, and the gentleman, that a difference of 
opinion never had the power to alter his affections towards his 
friends. He died at Win wick, September 1659, aged sixty-one 
years, and was interred in his own church. 

Among many choice sayings scattered through his works, 
take the following for a specimen : " Gratitude is the best 
tenure for holding old mercies, and gives us the surest title to 
new ones. Religious families are the surest nurseries of reli- 
gion. The highest office of government is to be the nurse and 
guardian of religion. Peace, without contentment, is but a 
lethargy; safety, without it, is merely a prison; while content- 
ment, without both, is a kingdom, and a continual feast. The 
proud man has no God; the turbulent man has no neighbour; 
the distrustful man has no friend — but the discontented man 
has not himself. Long discourses are feathered arrows that 
overshoot the mark, and lose both game and labour, by exhaust- 
ing the patience, and relaxing the attention of the hearer. 
Affectation in any thing, but especially in words, manifests 
more ambition than ability, discovers a contracted soul, that 
takes up with forms and examples, and dares not venture to 
write but by a copy." 

His works are, 1. Microcosmography in Essays and Charac- 
ters. — 2. Contemplations and Devotions on the several Passa- 
ges of our blessed Saviour's Death and Passion. — 3. An An- 
swer to misled Dr. Hen. Fearne, according to the method of his 
own book. — 4. Several Sermons, among which are the follow- 
ing : A pair of Compasses for Church and State. — 5. David's 
Song of three parts. — 6. David's Reserve and Rescue. — 7. 
Worldly Policy, Moral Prudence, and Christian Wisdom; the 
vanity of the first, the usefulness of the second, and the excel- 
lency of the third — with other works. 

RICHARD HEYRICK. 

This learned divine was born in London, and educated in 
Merchant Taylor's school. He was a younger son of Sir Wil- 
liam Heyrick of Beaumannour in Leicestershire, and became a 
commoner of St. John's college, Oxford, in 1617, then aged 
seventeen years. In due time he took his degree in arts, and 
was elected a fellow of All-soul's college, in the same univer- 



RICHARD HEYRICK. 551 

sity, in 1624. About this time he entered also into holy orders; 
afterwards he became pastor of a church in Norfolk, and was 
elected warden of Christ's college in Manchester, by the means 
of archbishop Laud. On the commencement of the civil war 
he joined the parliament, and was chosen a member of the as- 
sembly of divines; which he attended with punctuality. He 
took the covenant, and zealously laboured to promote the refor- 
mation. In 1644, Mr Heyrick, and other ministers, in all 
twenty-one, were appointed by parliament to ordain ministers, 
for the time being, in the vacant parishes of the county of Lan- 
caster. He was deeply concerned in the affair called Love's 
plot, the object of which was to raise, by private subscription, 
money to forward the expedition of Charles II. into England; 
but the plot being discovered by the watchful vigilance of the 
commonwealth, it was easily defeated. Of those who were 
engaged in this affair, with the exception of Love and Gibbons, 
who suffered death as a terror to others, some fled the country, 
and others, through the mediation of their friends, and a pro- 
mise of submission to the commonwealth in all time coming, 
were released, and escaped the severity of the storm. In 
what manner Mr Heyrick came off we have no information; 
but in whatever way this took place, we find him afterwards 
appointed an assistant to the commissioners for ejecting igno- 
rant and scandalous ministers and school-masters in Lancashire. 
Wood says, " That, upon the approach of the restoration, he 
seemed zealous for promoting the design, in consideration 
whereof he was suffered to retain his wardenship till his death, 
which happened on the 6th of August 1667, and in the sixty- 
seventh year of his age." Anna Maria, his widow, some short 
time after, caused a comely monument to be put over his grave, 
with a large inscription, composed by his old acquaintance, and 
real friend, Mr Thomas Case, minister of the gospel in Lon- 
don, who had been intimately acquainted with Mr Heyrick 
while a student at Oxford. This inscription gives him an ex- 
cellent character as a person of genteel extraction, a most dili- 
gent and laborious student, a faithful pastor, a watchful guar- 
dian of his college, a man of solid judgment and acute pene- 
tration, of singular zeal, associated with remarkable prudence, 
of gravity, accompanied with the most agreeable manners and 
true humility. He is allowed, moreover, to have been a man 
of great learning. 

He has published several sermons, amongst which are, 1. 
Three Sermons delivered in the Collegiate Church of Manches- 
ter. — 2. Queen Esther's Resolves, or a princely pattern of Hea- 
venly resolution for all the lovers of God and their country; a 
sermon preached to the Commons at their monthly fast, May 
1646 — with several other sermons. 



552 MEMOIR OF 



GASPER HICKES. 



Mr Hickes was born in Berkshire, an inland county. 
His father was a minister, who, in the year 1621, when his son 
was sixteen years of age, had him placed in Trinity college, 
Oxford, where, having taken his degree in arts, and entered 
into holy orders, he at length became pastor of Laudrake, or 
Lawrick, in the county of Cornwall. Here he continued a con- 
stant and faithful preacher of the gospel for several years, un- 
der the appellation of a puritan. On the commencement of 
the war, Mr Hickes took part with the parliament, and openly 
expressed his sentiments on that subject. But the royal army 
having entered that county, and for some time continued vic- 
torious, he found his situation so uneasy, that he retired to Lon- 
don. Here he was chosen a member, and took his seat accord- 
ingly, in the assembly of divines. He preached frequently in 
the city, and some times before parliament. But afterwards, 
upon the declining of the king's interest, when the royal forces 
were driven from Cornwall, he returned to his pastoral charge. 
In 1654 he was appointed an assistant to the commissioners for 
ejecting improper ministers and school-masters in the county of 
Cornwall; and, according to Wood, he was ever after, till the 
act of uniformity came forth, esteemed the chief of the presbyte- 
rian ministers of that district. 

When ejected from Laudrake by the Bartholomew act, Mr 
Hickes continued to live at or near the same place for several 
years, always preaching as opportunity offered; but in the pro- 
secution of this honourable and useful work he met with great 
opposition, and was subjected to much trouble and distress. 
Continuing to preach after the 30th of May 1670, in his own 
family, to the number which the act against conventicles allow- 
ed, with some other persons under sixteen years of age — Mr 
Winnel, the young parson of Laudrake, was so enraged, that 
he informed against him as a holder of conventicles, and had 
his house searched by the parish officers, who found but four 
persons present above the age of sixteen, beside those of his own 
family. This furious zealot, nevertheless, rode from one jus- 
tice to another to have him convicted; but the gentlemen of the 
neighbourhood, sensible that the law had not been violated, 
gave him no encouragement. Enraged at this disappointment, 
Winnel posted into Devonshire, where he found some justices, 
whose intolerant sentiments accorded with his own. These 
justices, taking it for granted that Mr Hickes had preached, 
though they had no proof to substantiate the allegation, con- 
victed him, and amerced him in the sum of forty pounds. 
Conscious of the unfair treatment he had met with, Mr Hickes 



GASPER HICKES. 553 

appealed to the next general sessions, where, contrary to law, 
he was denied the benefit of a jury, while the justices decided 
his case by their own votes; and having in this way rendered 
his appeal unjust in the eye of law, they added, to the forty 
pounds formerly awarded against him, triple costs for the pre- 
sent action, with a superabundance of unmanly abuse. Mr 
Hickes' case was indeed hard, but by no means novel. In 
much the same way have wicked men persecuted the prophets, 
apostles, and a whole army of martyrs, who have now rested 
from their labours; and, through a series of similar tribulations, 
shall saints, in every age, enter the heavenly kingdom. Mr 
Calamy says, " That Mr Hi ekes was a good scholar, and a ce- 
lebrated preacher. 

He has published several sermons, amongst which are, 1. 
The glory and beauty of God's portion, from Isaiah xxviii. 5, 
6. preached before the Commons. — 2. The Life and Death of 
David, a funeral Sermon. — 3. The advantage of Afflictions, a 
Sermon preached before the Peers. 

THOMAS HILL. 
This very learned and pious divine was born at Kington 
in Worcestershire, of religious parents, who solemnly devoted 
him to God in his childhood, and resolved to educate him for 
the holy ministry. Accordingly, having received the necessary 
preparations for the university, he was sent to Emanuel col- 
lege, Cambridge, where he afterwards became fellow. Here he 
made great progress in learning, was distinguished for his piety, 
and greatly beloved for the frankness, ease, and affability of 
his manners. Having finished his studies at Cambridge, with 
a view to his farther improvement in useful knowledge, he 
went to Boston, and spent some time with the learned Mr John 
Cotton, whose instructions and example had such an effect on 
this pious and otherwise well-disposed scholar, that he reaped 
the precious fruits during the whole course of his life. After 
leaving Boston he returned to Cambridge, became an excellent 
tutor, and a very popular preacher in St. Andrew's church. 
When the plague was raging in the university, and multitudes 
fled from the seat of that deadly infection, he could not think 
of relinquishing his labours at a period when they were so pe- 
culiarly necessary; and fearless of danger, like a faithful 
shepherd of Christ's flock, continued in the work whereunto 
he had been called. 

On leaving the university he was chosen pastor of Tichmarch 
in Northamptonshire, where he continued about nine years, 
discharging the various duties of his pastoral office with dili- 
gence, fidelity, and success. Here he was great! v esteemed by 

20 4 a 



654* MEMOIR OF 

the earl of Warwick, in whose family he became acquainted 
with Mrs Willford, governess to the earl's daughter, whom he 
afterwards married. In 1640, when the committee of accom- 
modation was appointed by the House of Lords to consider the 
innovations in religion, Dr. Hill, with several bishops, and 
other learned divines, was chosen a member of the sub-commit- 
tee to prepare materials for their discussion. In 1643 he was 
chosen a member of the assembly of divines ; which he punctu- 
ally attended; and by his great learning, candour, and modera- 
tion, was signally serviceable in all their deliberations. In the 
following year he was appointed one of the committee for the 
ordination of public preachers. He was chosen morning lec- 
turer at the Abbey church, Westminster, and preached every 
Lord's day at St. Martin's in the fields. He was universally 
celebrated for learning and talents, on which account he was 
appointed master of Emanuel college, Cambridge, and after- 
wards of Trinity college, in the same university. Here he em- 
ployed all bis zeal, influence, and abilities, in promoting sound 
learning, in encouraging genuine piety, and in enforcing the 
performance of all college exercises. He was twice chosen 
vice-chancellor, and was ever attentive to the honour and pri- 
vileges of the university. 

Dr. Hill was firmly attached to the thirty-nine articles of 
the church of England. He considered unconditional election, 
salvation by grace, justification by the imputed righteousness of 
Christ, and the final perseverance of believers, not as points of 
dry speculation, but as doctrines obviously held forth in the 
word of God, and the very life of true christian faith. During 
his last sickness he derived singular comfort from the consider- 
ation of these sublime doctrines. The distinguishing love of 
God in Christ was the foundation of his confidence, and the 
matter of his joy and rejoicing amid the afflictions and pains 
of a quartan ague, of which he died. Being asked, a little before 
his death, Whether he enjoyed peace with God? he replied, 
in a very cheerful manner, " That through the mercy of God 
in Christ his peace was made, and that he quietly rested in it." 
He died, much lamented, on the 18th of December 1653, and 
in an advanced age. 

Dr. Hill was a divine much distinguished for his humility 
and purity of life, an excellent and useful preacher, of great 
learning and moderation ; but strongly opposed to the doctrines 
of Arminius. He used to lay his hand on his heart, and say, 
" Every true christian hath something here that will frame au 
argument against arminianism. He has, notwithstanding all 
his talents, learning, moderation, and meekness, been subjected 
to the reproachful insinuations of that anti-puritan Dr. Gray, 



THOMAS HILL. 555 

who lias perpetuated the memorials of his own caustic and cau- 
terizing humour, his disingenuity and incurable hatred of all 
who differ from, or oppose his opinions, by associating them 
with names which shall be had in everlasting remembrance. 

Mr Neal having specified his preferments in the church, the 
doctor says, " How deserving this gentleman was of such pre- 
ferment, his works sufficiently testify ;" and proceeds to esta- 
blish his insinuations by citing the following expressions deli- 
vered by Dr. Hill on public occasions : 

"That we may have an incorrupt religion, without sinful, 
without guileful mixtures, not a linseywoolsey religion : All 
new-born babes will desire word-milk, sermon-milk, v/ithout 
guile or adulterating sophistication. What pity it is that ca- 
thedral societies, which might have been colleges of learned 
presbyters for feeding and ruling the city churches, and petty 
academies to prepare pastors for neighbouring places, should be 
often the sanctuaries of non-residents, and nurseries of drones, 
who can neither preach nor pray, otherwise than read, say, or 
sing their prayers, while truth itself is exhibited in the non-edi- 
fying pomp of ceremonious services. Behold, with weeping 
eyes, the many hundred congregations in the kingdom where 
millions of souls are ready to perish for want of vision. Truth 
is sold from amongst them, either by soul-betraying non-resi- 
dents, soul-poisoning innovators, or soul-pining dry nurses. In 
many places the very image of jealousy, the mass is set up, yea, 
the comedy of the mass is acted. I wish every parliament man 
had a map of the soul-misery existing in most of the ten thou- 
sand churches and chapels in England. 

" Instead of the high commission, says he, which was a 
scourge to many godly and faithful ministers, we have now an 
honourable committee, that turns the wheel upon such as are 
scandalous, ignorant, and unworthy. In the room of Jeroboam's 
priests, burning and shining lights are multiplied in many dark 
places of the land, which were full of the habitations of cruelty. 
In place of a long and drawling liturgy, we are in hopes of a 
pithy directory. Instead of prelatical rails about the table of 
the Lord, we have the scripture rails of church discipline in 
great forwardness. Where popish altars abounded, we begin to 
see more of Christ crucified in the purity and simplicity of his 
own ordinances. Instead of the prelate's oath to establish their 
own exorbitant power and appurtenances, we have a solemn 
league and covenant with God, engaging us to endeavour the 
reformation of his church, and the extirpation of popery, and 
even prelacy itself, according to his word." — The pious and im- 
partial reader will be at no loss to form an opinion of the un- 
generous insinuations of this zealous churchman. 



556 MEMOIR OF 

Dr. Hill's works are, 1. The Trade of Truth Advanced, in a 
Sermon to the Commons at their solemn Fast, July 27th, 1642. 
— 2. The Militant Church Triumphant over the Dragon and his 
Angels, preached to both Houses of Parliament, July 21st, 1643. 
— 3. The Season for England's Self-reflection, and advancing 
Temple-work; a Sermon before the Houses of Parliament, 
August 13th, 1644, being an extraordinary day of humiliation. 
— 4. The Right Separation Encouraged, a Sermon to the Lords, 
November 27th, 1644, being their monthly public Fast. 

JOSHUA HOYLE, D. D. 

This very learned puritan was born at Sawerby, near 
Halifax in Yorkshire, and educated in Magdalen college, Ox- 
ford. Being afterwards invited into Ireland, he became fellow 
of Trinity college, Dublin; and having taken his degrees in di- 
vinity, he was chosen theological professor in that university. 
In the course of his daily lectures, he expounded all the books 
both of the Old and New Testament, seldom taking more than 
one verse for a lecture. In this tedious work he was engaged 
for fifteen years; and, during the ten years following, he went 
through the greater part of the sacred writings a second time. 
He preached and expounded thrice every Sabbath for the greater 
part of the year, besides his public services on many extraordi- 
nary occasions; to all which may be added, his elaborate 
answers to Bellarmine, the redoubted champion of the Romish 
church. This man was extolled above measure by the catholics 
and the court of Rome, and reputed the most formidable anta- 
gonist the reformers had to contend with. Most of the protes- 
tant divines, eminent for their critical and controversial talents, 
were therefore induced to make his arguments a particular ob- 
ject of refutation. Bellarmine's controversial works are written 
in Latin, and have gone through several editions, in four folio 
volumes. Dr. Hoyle fearlessly and successfully attacked the 
system of error and absurdity therein defended, and dragged 
into public view, and general execration, the mock miracles, 
catch-penny and juggling tricks of a system calculated for 
blinding the mind, and substituting superstition in the room of 
reason, for enslaving both the souls and bodies of men, and 
thereby securing an interested priesthood in the possession of 
power, which they exercised with tyranny, and wealth, which 
they consumed in the most licentious and disgusting luxury. 
Dr. Hoyle began with Bellarmine's work of the seven sacra- 
ments, which engaged him for eight years, arid afterwards pro- 
ceeded to animadvert on the rest of the cardinal's gigantic work. 
He cut his way into the dark recesses of the temple of supersti- 
tion, and tore aside the veil that concealed the mystery of ini- 



JOSHUA HOYLE. 557 

quity, the great idol which the world had so long and so igno- 
rantly worshipped, and, by dissolving the magical illusion, li- 
berated the spell-bound devotee. 

In 1634 he sat in the convocation held at Dublin; but when 
the Irish rebellion * broke out in 1641, he fled from the terri- 
ble effusion of blood, made his way to England, and became 
vicar of Stepney, near London, where, according to Wood, he 
was considered too scholastic, and on that account not accepta- 
ble to the parishioners. In 1643 he was chosen one of the as- 
sembly of divines; which he constantly attended, and took an 
important part in their deliberations. He was afterwards a wit- 
ness against archbishop Laud on his trial, and testified that the 
archbishop had corrupted the university of Dublin by the arbi- 
trary introduction of the errors of popery and arminianism. In 
1645 he was elected one of the committee of accommodation; 
and in 1648 he was appointed master of L^niversity college, 
Oxford, and king's professor of divinity in the same university. 
In this office he has not escaped the animadversions of that cap- 
tious writer Dr. Walker, who says, " That he commenced his 
lectures with a speech destitute of all spirit and learning, and 
that they had neither method nor argument; which manifest- 
ed his ignorance of even the most common rules of logic." 
Wood, however, styles him a person of great reading and me- 
mory, much devoted to study, profound in the faculty of divi- 
nity, a constant preacher, and a noted puritan, and that he was 
highly respected by archbishop L'sher, in whose vindication be 
wrote a rejoinder to a Reply in Defence of the Real Presence, 
by William Malone, a Jesuit; which has ever been account- 
ed a very learned and elaborate work. In the assembly of 
divines he was held in great esteem as master of all the an- 
cient learning, and thoroughly acquainted with the Greek and 
Latin fathers, and as one abundantly qualified either for the 
pulpit or to fill his professional chair. He died on the 6th of 
December 1654, and his remains were interred in the old 
chapel belonging to University college, Oxford. His succes- 
sors, in the offices of master and professor, were Mr Francis 
Johnson and Dr. John Conant, both ejected in 1662. 

JOHN LEY, A. M. 

This indefatigable preacher was born at Warwick in 
February 1583. His predecessors were of the county of Che- 

* The popish priests, who were themselves engaged in this rebellion, admit that 
upwards of one hundred and fifty-four thousand protectants were massacred in Ire- 
land in the space of a few months; and Sir J. Temple says, " That there were above 
three hundred thousand murdered in cold blood, or destroyed in some other way, 
during the continuance of that unparalleled period of furious zeal and inhuman 
butchery." Cardinal Richelieu was deeply concerned in this hellish massacre; and } 
according to Rapin, Charles I. spread abroad the report that the catholics had his 
authority for what they did. 



558 MEMOIR OF 

shire. He received the rudiments of bis education at the free 
grammar school of Warwick; from which he removed to Christ's 
college, Oxford, in 1601, and in the eighteenth year of his age. 
Here, in due time, he took his degrees of arts; and having finish- 
ed his studies in the university, he was presented to the vicar- 
age of Great Budworth in Cheshire, where, for a number of 
years, he continued a laborious preacher. He was made pre- 
bendary of the Cathedral church at Chester; also sub-dean of 
the same cathedral, where he kept up a weekly lecture at St. 
Paul's church, and was once or twice elected a member of the 
convocation. But having always held and maintained opinions 
at variance with prelacy, he espoused the cause of parliament, 
took the covenant, and became a member of the assembly of di- 
vines, to which he was appointed Latin examiner. Mr Ley be- 
came rector of Ashfield in Cheshire, and for a short time that 
of Astbury, in the same county. He was also one of the com- 
mittee for the ordination of ministers by imposition of hands, 
one of the committee for superintending the press, and chair- 
man of that for the examination and approbation of ministers. 
About 1645 he was chosen president of Sion college; and about 
the same time inducted into the rich living of Brightwell in 
Berkshire. In 1653 he was chosen one of the triers, and, in 
the year following, an assistant to the commissioners of Berk- 
shire for ejecting improper ministers and school-masters. Some 
short time after this Mr Ley resigned his living at Brightwell, 
and was presented to that of Solihull in Warwickshire. Here 
he continued but a short time; for having, by constant preach- 
ing, and excessive exertion, burst a blood-vessel, he was there- 
by so much disabled, that he could no longer perform his pulpit 
services. On this account he resigned his charge, and retired 
to Sutton Coldfields, in the same county, where he spent the 
residue of his days in private. A certain writer, of considerable 
reputation, has placed our divine at the head of those puritans, 
who, as he says, encouraged tumults, whom he ironically styles, 
" Holy, faithful, able, and truly peaceable preachers of the gos- 
pel." In support of his insinuations, he quotes the following 
passages from Mr Ley's works, namely, " It is not unknown,, 
nor has it escaped the observation of the wise, that the ministers 
have been A^ery serviceable to the civil state, and also to the 
military, not merely by their supplications to God for the suc- 
cess of their undertakings, for the happy result of their warlike 
marches and motions, as at the removal of the ark, Num. x. 31. 
'Arise, O Lord, and let their enemies be scattered: Let them 
that hate thee flee before thee,' — but also by their informations 
and solicitations of the people to engage both their persons and 
estates in the cause of God and their country." Having pro- 



JOHN LEY. 5.59 

Sliced these, and other somewhat similar quotations, this author 
says, with an air of triumph, " After these proofs and declara- 
tions of the minister's zeal and industry, in promoting, support- 
ing, and carrying on the late hloody, impious, and unnatural 
war, let any man take upon him any longer to acquit the non- 
conformist divines of the guilt and consequences of that execra- 
ble rebellion." These very partial remarks of this strange 
author show the blindness of party-spirit. They seem to set 
forth, that their author considered deprivations, banishments, 
imprisonments, fines, and confiscations, the cropping of ears, 
and the splitting of noses, with a thousand other unsufferable 
indignities exercised towards the non-conforming clergy of that 
period, as trifles of no consideration — But that the star-chamber 
was the seat of impartial justice and merciful moderation; the 
court of high commission a constellation composed of all that 
was meek and lowly, holy and harmless; and that Bancroft, 
Laud, and other prelatical dons of the same intolerant kidney, 
were very babes of grace ! Every impartial mind, at all ac- 
quainted with the tyrannical measures adopted both by church 
and state at and before the commencement of that sanguinary 
war, will, at one glance, discover the real authors, promoters, 
and supporters of what he calls an execrable rebellion; which 
it certainly was, not however of the people against the king, 
but of the king and prelates against the people, and the consti- 
tution that guaranteed their rights. 

Mr Ley was accounted an excellent preacher, a very learned 
and pious divine, deeply read in the fathers and councils, and a 
principal pillar of presbyterianism. He died, May 16th, 1662, 
aged about seventy-nine years, and was buried in the church at 
Sutton Coldfield. 

His writings are, 1. An Apology in Defence of the Geneva 
Notes on the Bible. — 2. A Pattern of Piety.— 3. A Monitor of 
Mortality. — 4. The fury of War, and the folly of Sin. — 5. Sun- 
day, a Sabbath. — 6. Defensive doubts, hopes, and reasons, for 
refusal of the oath imposed by the 6th canon of the synod. — 7. 
A Letter addressed to the Bishop of Chester, June 16th, 1635, 
against erecting an Altar. — 8. Case of Conscience concerning 
the Sacrament. — 9. A Comparison of the Parliamentary Pro- 
testation with the late canonical oath; also the opposition be- 
tween the Doctrine of the Church of England and that of Rome. 
— 10. A Discourse concerning Puritans. — 11. Examination of 
Saltmarch's New Query. — 12. Light for Smoke. — 13. An after 
reckoning with Mr Saltmarch. — 14. Annotations on the Penta- 
teuch and on the four Evangelists. — 15. A learned Defence of 
Tithes. — 16. A Debate concerning the English Liturgy between 
E. Hide, D. D. and J. Ley. — IT. A Disputation, chiefly con- 



560 MEMOIR OF 

cerning matters of religion. — 18. Animadversions on two print- 
ed Books of J. Onely, a Lay preacher. — 19. A Consolatory 
Letter to Dr. Bryan, upon the death of his dear son. — 20. 
Equitable and necessary considerations for the Association of 
Arms in England and Wales. — 21. A Petition to the Protector, 
by Divers, for the establishment, as ministers of the gospel, 
without induction by Bishops. — 22. Attestation against Errors. 
— 23. Comparison of the 6th canon of the last synod of Bishops. 
— 24. Exceptions many and just. 

JOHN LIGHTFOOT, D. D. 

This divine, greatly celebrated for his oriental learning, 
was born at Stoke-upon-Trent, in the county of Stafford, March 
29th, 1602. His father, Mr Thomas Lightfoot, was vicar of 
Uttoxiter in Staffordshire for the space of thirty-six years. His 
mother, Elizabeth Bagnall, was of a very respectable family, of 
which three males were made knights, by queen Elizabeth, for 
the martial skill and courage they displayed in the wars against 
the Irish rebels. The subject of the present memoir was the 
second of five sons. He was early committed to the care of Mr 
Whitehead, school-master at Morton-green, near Congerton, in 
the county Palatine of Chester, where he continued till June 
16 IT, when he was sent to Christ's college, Cambridge, and 
placed under the tuition of Mr William Chappel, at that time 
fellow of the house, afterwards doctor and professor of divi- 
nity in Trinity college, Dublin; and, in process of time, bishop 
of Cork. Mr Lightfoot exhibited early specimens of a promis- 
ing genius and lively wit; and having had the instructions of 
men highly qualified for their situations, with close application 
on his part, he made an astonishing proficiency in his studies, 
particularly in Latin and Greek. His tutor, when he had been 
but a short time in the college, held him forth as the best ora- 
tor of all the under graduates in Cambridge. He continued in 
the college till he obtained the degree of bachelor of arts, when 
he became assistant to Mr Whitehead, his first master, who had 
now a famous school at Repton in Derbyshire; in which situa- 
tion he remained about two years, equally agreeable both to the 
master and scholars. Soon after leaving Mr Whitehead he 
entered into holy orders, and was settled at Norton in Shrop- 
shire. While in this place Sir Rowland Cotton took him into 
his family as chaplain, being highly pleased with his hopeful 
parts, after having heard him preach. It was here he laid the 
foundation of that rabbinical learning, for which he was after- 
wards so justly and so highly distinguished both at home and 
abroad. Sir Rowland used to question him in the Hebrew 
language; of which, at that period, he was so much a novice, 



JOHN LIGHTFOOT. 561 

that his patron could baffle him almost on every point. He 
was greatly ashamed that a country gentleman should be so 
much his superior in a branch of learning so essentially neces- 
sary to his profession. This consideration gave him a new and 
powerful stimulus to the study of that sacred tongue, and his 
singular talent for oriental learning began to unfold itself apace. 
Possessing a vigorous mind, and a sound constitution, and blest 
with the friendship, example, and the occasional instructions of 
his learned patron, he soon acquired such a store of oriental 
learning, as has in no small degree contributed to the right un- 
derstanding of the holy scriptures. When Sir Rowland remov- 
ed to London with his family, Mr Lightfoot followed soon after, 
and remained with him for some time; then returning to the coun- 
try, he visited his friends at Stoke. He had formed the design 
of travelling for his improvement; but having been chosen and 
solicited by the inhabitants of Stone in Staffordshire to become 
their pastor, he was persuaded to relinquish his purpose; which 
gave great joy to his parents and the rest of his friends. In 
this situation he remained about two years, during which he 
married the daughter of William Crompton, Esq. of Stone-park, 
and widow of George Copwood of Dilverne, in the county of 
Stafford. From this place he removed to Hornsey, in the 
neighbourhood of London, that he might have the advantage of 
Sion college library in the prosecution of his studies. In the 
spring of 1 630 Mr Lightfoot and his family went to Stoke, 
where they continued till the following autumn, that Sir Row- 
land Cotton preferred him to the rectory of Ashley, in the 
eounty of Stafford, where he soon procured an excellent repu- 
tation, and continued twelve years faithfully discharging the 
duties of his pastoral office, and prosecuting his favourite studies 
with unremitting application. In June 1642 he went up to 
London, and was chosen minister of St. Bartholomew's behind 
the exchange. 

In 1643 he was appointed a member of the assembly of di- 
vines, of which he was a constant attendant, and acted a very 
conspicuous part in their public discussions, having an excel- 
lent field for displaying his rare talents and rabbinical erudition, 
of which he gave surprising specimens. At this time, though 
Mr Lightfoot was little above forty years of age, he displayed 
an extraordinary knowledge in divinity, oriental learning, and 
church government. When the primitive constitution of the 
church came under the consideration of the assembly, or when 
texts of scripture were brought forward in support of such doc- 
trines and modes of discipline as were under discussion, he ge- 
nerally spoke, and often gave very uncommon interpretations 
of controverted places. When some divines in the assembly 

21 4 b 



5C) 6 2 MEMOIR OF 

were for churches consisting merely of saints, which mode they 
endeavoured to support by Rev. xv. 3. where Christ is denomi- 
nated the King of saints; Dr. Seanaan objected to this, because 
the reading was doubtful, some copies reading, thou King of 
ages, or eternity. Dr. Lightfoot supported his objection, show- 
ing that the Syriac and Arabic read to the same import, thou 
I£ing of the world, or thou King of ages. When a debate took 
place in the assembly respecting the persons who ought to read 
the scriptures in public, and Gouge and Marshall were of opi- 
nion, that some expert and sober persons of the laity ought to 
do this part of the public service, Lightfoot shewed at large, 
that in the Jewish synagogue none but public officers were al- 
lowed to read the law and the prophets, and these of the Leviti- 
^al order — asserting, that the Levites in the temple were ser- 
vants to the priests; but in the synagogues their office was simi- 
lar to that of a christian pastor. When the dispute took place be- 
tween the independents and the other parties in the assembly re- 
specting congregations, Whether there were more than one in a 
city, especially in Jerusalem ? and Dr. Temple doubted whether 
there were a plurality of fixed congregations in that city in the 
days of the apostles — Lightfoot answered in several particulars, 
1st, " That the multitude of pastors, resident at Jerusalem, could 
by no means correspond with the opinion of only one congrega- 
tion. 2d, There were a variety of languages spoken in that 
city, which rendered different preachers and different congrega- 
tions unavoidable. 3d, That one part of the church had dea- 
cons, while others had none; we must therefore consider them 
as distinguished from one another. 4th, We are informed, in 
Acts xii. 12. that many were gathered together praying, and 
yet James, and others of the brethren, were not amongst the 
number; all which point out a plurality of christian congrega- 
tions at Jerusalem, and similar causes would render the same 
unavoidable in almost every populous city." 

Being eminently distinguished in the assembly, Mr Light- 
toot was promoted to the church of Much-Munden in Hertford- 
shire about the close of 1643. In one of his sermons, before 
the Commons, he bitterly animadverts on the folly and super- 
stition of placing the apocrypha between the Old and New 
Testaments. " It is not a little surprising (says he) how this 
wretched^ apocrypha, this patchery of human invention, could 
ever gain such a place in the hearts and bibles of the primitive 
christians, as to occupy a place in the centre of the oracles of God. 
This, however, maybe in part accounted for, says he, by the fact, 
that the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were intro- 
duced amongst the Gentile converts by the Jews, who, for a 
long time, had almost exclusively enjoyed the knowledge of re- 



JOHN LIGHTFOOT, 563 

ligion; on which account all their writings behoved tb be highly 
esteemed among the Gentile converts. In this way, it is proba- 
ble, the apocrypha first gained esteem in the Gentile world, and 
the superstition, afterwards introduced into the christian church, 
contributed much to retain it in their bibles; as superstition na- 
turally inclines men to admit whatever their fathers have admit- 
ted before them. But the wonder increases, how the reformed 
churches, after having thrown off the yoke of superstition, and 
ventured to examine, think, and decide for themselves, should 
skill retain, in the centre of their bibles, such a jumble of con- 
tradiction and ridiculous absurdity. It is true, continues he, 
they have thrown them out of the canon, but still allow them a 
place in the bible; the same as if God, when he cast Adam out 
of paradise, had still permitted him to remain." In another 
sermon to the Commons, he warmly recommends a review of 
the translation of the bible. " I hope (says he) you may find, 
amongst your other serious employments, some time to consider 
this subject, certainly it would be a work well becoming a pe- 
riod of reformation, and which would greatly redound to your 
honour. Nehemiah, when engaged in reformation work, took 
care that the law should not only be read, but that the people 
should be caused to understand it; and certainly it would not 
be the least advantage the three nations would derive from your 
labours, if, by your care and means, they might come to the 
proper understanding of the scriptures, by an exact, vigorous, 
and lively translation. I say it again, I hope you will find 
some time for commencing so needful a work." 

Dr. Lightfoot became master of Katherine-hall on the ejec- 
tion t>f Dr. Spurstow, who refused the engagement. This place, 
together with the sequestrated living of Much-Munden, he 
enjoyed till the restoration, when he offered to restore it to 
Dr. Spurstow; which the latter declining to receive, Lightfoot, 
having conformed, made application to the king, and was con- 
firmed in both his preferments; which he held till his death. In 
1652 he took the degree of doctor in divinity. When in the 
university he preached frequently, warmly recommending to the 
students the necessity of a conversation becoming the gospel of 
Christ, and warning them against enthusiasm, which, at that 
time, greatly prevailed in England. In 1655 he was chosen 
vice-chancellor of the university of Cambridge, the duties of 
which office he discharged with becoming carefulness and pro- 
priety. Notwithstanding his labours in the university and in 
the church, and the time spent in composing his numerous and 
learned works, he still found some leisure hours to promote the 
elaborate works of other learned men. When Dr. Walton was 
engaged with his Polyglot Bible, which was printed in six 



564 MEMOIR OF 

volumes folio, in 1657, Dr. Lightfoot gave him considerable as- 
sistance. This very elaborate work had the sacred text most 
carefully printed in vulgar Latin, also in the Hebrew, Syriac, 
Chaldee, Samaritan, Arabic, Ethiopian, Persian, and Greek lan- 
guages, to each of which a particular Latin translation was an- 
nexed. He appears to have likewise assisted Dr. Castell, pro- 
fessor of Arabic in the university of Cambridge, in his Lexicon 
Heptaglotton ; and the learned Poole in his Synopsis Criti- 
corum. 

Dr. Lightfoot held some peculiar sentiments. He maintain- 
ed, that the calling of the Jews is a matter we have no reason 
ever to expect : That the only call they ever had, or will have, 
was in the days of Christ and his apostles, when a remnant of 
them were converted to the faith of the gospel : But that no 
universal calling of that nation ever has been, or shall be; and 
that the 5th verse of the xii. of Romans is no proof that such 
a circumstance shall ever take place, either generally, or after 
many ages, as has been suggested by many. He also asserted, 
that the Greek translation of the bible by the seventy was ham- 
mered out by the Jews with more caution than conscience, 
with more craft than sincerity, and that it was done to answer 
their political views and purposes. He maintained, moreover, 
that the keys were given to Peter alone; not, however, the keys 
of government and discipline, but the keys that were to open the 
gates of the gospel church to the Gentile nations, which was 
designated by the kingdom of heaven; and that it was to this pur- 
pose that Peter spoke, Acts xv. 7. This opinion he openly 
maintained in the assembly of divines. In like manner he 
asserted, that binding and loosing, as expressed by our Lord 
to his disciples, when s-ending them forth, did not relate to their 
discipline, but to their doctrine; for this reason, that the phrases 
were Jewish, and most frequently found in their writers. 
When the Jews set apart any person for a preacher, but especially 
with respect to teachers, they used the following words : " Take 
thou liberty to teach what is bound and what is loose." Of the 
words spoken to Cain, after the murder of his brother, he also 
gives a very different interpretation from the generality of com- 
mentators : " If thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door;" 
that is, a sin-offering for atoning thy transgressions is at hand, 
not the punishment of thy sins as generally understood; for, 
according to him, these words were not spoken to terrify the 
murderer, and drive him to despair, but to encourage him to 
hope; and this, says he, is the common acceptation of the word 
sin, as it occurs in the books of Moses. 

On the restoration of Charles II., by the good offices of arch- 
bishop Shelden and others, he was not only confirmed in his 



JOHN LIGHTFOOT. 565 

preferments, but also presented to a prebendary by the lord- 
keeper Bridgeman, in the cathedral of Ely; at which place he 
died of a fever, December 6th, 1675, and his remains were in- 
terred at Munden. 

His works were translated into English, and first published 
separately in small pieces; but afterwards collected and publish- 
ed by Mr Strype, in two volumes folio, with above forty ser- 
mons, preached on several subjects and occasions, and a short 
tract upon the 4th article of the creed, never before printed. 
The first volume contains, The Harmony of the Old and New 
Testaments. — Observations on the Book of Genesis. — An hand- 
ful of Gleanings out of the Book of Exodus. — A Commentary 
on the Acts of the Apostles. — The Temple-service.— Miscel- 
lanies, and a description of the Temple, with a map of it 
drawn by himself. The second volume contains Hebrew and 
Talmudical Exercitations on the four Evangelists, the Acts of 
the Apostles, some chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, and 
on 1 Corinthians. They were also printed in Latin at Rotter- 
dam, in two vols, folio, 1668; and Mr Strype tells us, "That 
his writings have been so well known and admired abroad, that 
two or three impressions have been thrown off in Holland since 
that time, and that Remfertus, the professor, and several other 
learned men, had expressed a desire to obtain every production 
of his pen for publication, that none of the notions of that great 
man might be lost." 



STEPHEN MARSHALL, B. D. 

This active and zealous puritan divine was born at Godmaii- 
chester in Huntingdonshire, and had his education at Emanuel 
college, Cambridge; from which, according to Dr. Fuller, he be- 
came an early reaper in God's harvest; but not before he had 
well sharpened his sickle for that laborious service. He was 
for some time minister at Wethersfield in Essex, and afterwards 
at Finchingfield in the same county, where he acquired a very 
high reputation. In this last place he was silenced for non- 
conformity; and after several years' silence, he came up to Cam- 
bridge to take the degree of bachelor of divinity, and perform- 
ed his exercise with general applause. On his restoration to 
his ministry, in 1640, he did not return to Finchingfield, but 
was appointed lecturer at St. Margaret's church, Westminster; 
and though despised, hated, and calumniated by the opposite 
party, he was a man of high reputation, often called to preach 
before parliament, who consulted him on all important matters 
relating to religion. Mr Echard, with his usual animosity, de- 
nominates him a famous incendiary, and assistant to the parlia- 



566 MEMOIR OF 

mentarians; their trumpeter in their fasts; their confessor in 
sickness; their counsellor in their assemblies; their chaplain in 
their treaties; and their redoubted champion in all their dispu- 
tations. " This great Shimei (says he) being taken with a des- 
perate sickness, departed the world mad and raving;" than 
which there never was a more unjust aspersion; for Mr Mar- 
shall retained the full possession of his understanding to the 
last moment. Lord Clarendon also admits his great popularity 
and public influence in parliament. " Without doubt (says he) 
the archbishop of Canterbury never had so great an influence 
upon the councils at court, as Mr Marshall and Dr. Burgess 
had upon the Houses of Parliament." His lordship, moreover, 
charges him with a transaction, which, were it true, would ren- 
der him unworthy of the character of an honest man. This re- 
lates to the ministers' petition presented to parliament; Which 
paper, says he, contained but few signatures, but many other 
sheets were annexed for the reception of such names as favour- 
ed the undertaking; but after their names had been subscribed, 
the petition itself was cut off, and another petition of a different 
nature substituted in its place; and when some of the ministers 
complained that they had never seen the petition to which their 
names were attached, Mr Marshall, who is said to have had the 
charge of the petition, told them, that it was thought fit, by men 
who understood the business better than they, to have the lat- 
ter preferred to the former. Dr. Walker, an archbigot for 
things as they are, is, however, afraid to establish this as a mat- 
ter of fact, and contents himself with saying, " It is probable 
Mr Marshall was deeply enough concerned in the affair." 
There was a committee of parliament appointed to take cogniz- 
ance of all such petitions; but the learned historian relieves 
himself from all further investigation, by saying, " That they 
were prevailed upon to pass it over;" for the truth of which we have 
only his lordship's word; while neither Rush worth, Whitelock, 
nor any of the impartial writers of those times, have so much 
as hinted at the circumstance. Such an improbable assertion, 
therefore, without any proof or reference, deserves no credit 
whatever, but has every appearance of being a forgery, intend- 
ed to vilify the character of one of their most active anta- 
gonists. 

Scarcely have any of the puritan divines been set up as a butt 
for the shafts of calumny and inveterate invective so conspicu- 
ously as the subject of this memoir; nor has any of his enemies 
attacked him with so much scurrility as the anonymous author 
of a Letter of Spiritual Advice, written to Mr Stephen Marshall 
in his sickness. " When I heard of your sickness (says this 
writer), I assure you I felt in my mind such a different appre- 



STEPHEN MARSHALL. 5©7 

hension of your state from that of ordinary sickness, that I can- 
not impute your present visitation to any thing but the just se- 
verity of almighty God 3 for the exertions you have made, and 
the influence you have used, to ruin this church and kingdom. 
For, sir, is it not apparent, that your eminent gifts of preaching 
have been used with the design of kindling those flames of re- 
bellion, and producing that effusion of christian blood, that now 
desolates the country where you were born? Have not you, 
with all the earnest solicitations in your power, endeavoured to 
raise liberal contributions from your hearers to maintain this 
unnatural war? Have you not forsaken your own charge to 
accompany and strengthen the resolutions of the general of your 
army in his attempts against the just power and sacred life of 
his and your anointed Sovereign ? Does not the whole king- 
dom impute the distractions and combustions therein, as much 
to the seditious sermons of the preachers of your faction, as to 
the contrivances and policy of those persons who direct the un- 
hallowed machinery ? Let your own conscience be your own 
judge in this matter, and it will tell you, that should your de- 
signs succeed to your wish, and a change of government, such 
as you contemplate, take place, you would think yourselves much 
wronged and neglected if you were not acknowledged and re- 
warded as very effectual instruments in bringing about the de- 
sired change. This being the incontrovertible state of the case, 
you cannot account it uncharitable, in those who believe as I 
sincerely do, that your purposes are not merely unjust, but 
that they are fraught with the ruin both of justice and religion, 
should they attribute it to the mercy and favour of God to this 
ruined country, and his vengeance against you, were he to rid 
the world of such a destructive firebrand !" This anonymous 
letter stands in need of no refutation — its inveterate ill-nature 
and ill-manners are of themselves a sufficient refutation. 

In 1643 Mr Marshall was chosen one of the assembly of di- 
vines, and was a most active and valuable member. In this 
public situation, actively employed in preparing and maturing 
such measures as were calculated to supersede the episcopalian 
hierarchy, and circumscribe the inordinate power and intoler- 
ant rule of her dignitaries, it is not to be wondered that the 
bitterest censures of his antagonists should be poured upon him. 
Speaking of him as a member of the assembly, says one of 
them, " They sit not to consult how religion may be reformed, 
wherein it is amiss, but to receive the orders of parliament to 
innovate and undo religion; in which work and drudgery of the 
devil our active Stephen needs neither whip nor spur, but tooth 
and nail exerts himself to overthrow and destroy the hierarchy, 
root and branch." Dr. Heylin calls him the great bell-wether 



568 MEMOIR OF 

of the presbyterians; arid Newcourt, that he also may have the 
honour of being accounted one of his calumniators, calls him 
the Geneva-bull, and a factious and rebellious divine. 

" As to Mr Marshall (says Dr. Calamy), he was an active 
man, and encouraged taking up arms against a party of men 
who were driving every thing into confusion, at a period, when 
not only he and his friends, but a great number of as worthy 
men as ever sat in St. Stephen's chapel, considered the consti- 
tution, that guaranteed the liberties of England, in a very ha- 
zardous situation. Yet I am not aware that he can be justly 
charged with the least concurrence in those after-measures 
which tended to confusion." In the great controversy con- 
cerning church government, Mr Marshall also took a decided 
part. The celebrated bishop Hall having published his work 
in defence of episcopacy and the English liturgy, in 1640, en- 
titled, An Humble Remonstrance to the High Court of Parlia- 
ment, Mr Marshall united, witb several of his brethren, in writ- 
ing the famous book, entitled, An Answer to a Book, entitled, 
An Humble Remonstrance; in which answer the origin of litur- 
gy and episcopacy is discussed, and queries propounded con- 
cerning both; the parity of bishops and presbyters in the scrip- 
ture demonstrated; the disparity of the ancient and our modern 
bishops manifested; the antiquity of ruling elders in the church 
vindicated; and the prelatical church bounded — written by 
Smectymnuus, 1641. This work is said to be very well writ- 
ten, and that in all the controversies about non-conformity, it 
was much, referred to; but done with great fierceness of spirit 
and asperity of language. Mr Calamy affirms, " That it gave 
the first deadly blow to episcopacy." The learned Dr. Kempis 
says, " It was a production of no small importance in its day, 
and drawn up in a style of composition superior to that of the 
puritans in general, and indeed of many other writers of that 
period." The learned bishop Wilkins represents it as a capital 
performance against episcopacy. It concludes with a postscript, 
containing an historical narrative of the pride, luxury, bribery, 
extortion, rebellion, treason, and other bitter effects of episco- 
pacy, and closes to the following effect : 

"The inhuman butcheries, blood shedding, and other un- 
paralleled barbarities committed by Gardiner, Bonner, and the 
rest of the bishops in queen Mary's time, are so fresh in every 
man's memory, that we conceive it unnecessary to mention 
them, only that we are afraid that blood, then so wantonly shed, 
may yet be required of the nation, because it hath not endea- 
voured to appease the wrath of heaven by a general repentance 
and reformation. The practice of the prelates ever since, even 
from the commencement of Elizabeth's reign to the present day, 



STEPHEN MARSHALL. 569 

Would fill a volume, like EzekiePs roll, full of lamentation, 
mourning, and woe; for it hath been their main design, and 
unwearied endeavour, to arrest and prevent all further refor- 
mation, to introduce the doctrines of popery, arminianism, and 
libertinism; to maintain, propagate, and increase the burden of 
human ceremonies; to keep out and beat down the preaching of 
the word; to silence faithful ministers; to ridicule, and other- 
wise oppose and persecute, the most zealous professors; to turn 
all religion into a pompous parade of unmeaning ceremonies, 
and tread down the power of godliness, insomuch that it has 
become a common proverb amongst the people, when any thing 
is spoiled, that the bislwp' s foot has been there. In all this, and 
much more which might be said, fulfilling bishop Bonner's 
prophecy, who, finding that in king Edward's reformation a re- 
servation was introduced for admitting ceremonies and im- 
proving the hierarchy, is confidently and credibly reported to 
have said, since they have begun to taste our broth, it will not be 
long till they eat our beef." To this work the bishop replied in 
defence of his humble remonstrance. Smectymnuus supported 
what he had formerly said, and farther discussed the errors of 
episcopacy, and the conduct of her prelatical rulers. The 
bishop concluded the controversy by a piece, entitled, A Short 
Answer to a tedious Vindication of Smectymnuus, 1641. 

During ^his year Mr Marshall was appointed chaplain to the 
earl of Essex's regiment in the parliament army; in which situ- 
ation, Dr. Gray denominates him and Dr. Downing the two 
famed casuistical divines, and most eminent camp chaplains, 
and charges them, on the authority of lord Clarendon and 
Echard, with publicly avowing, "That the soldiers, taken prison- 
ers at Brentford, and liberated by the king upon their oaths never 
again to take up arms against him, were not obliged by that 
oath, having by their power absolved them from its obligation, 
and thereby engaged those miserable men in the guilt of a se- 
cond rebellion." This, like the former, has all the appearance 
of a forgery, for the purpose of ruining the reputation of two men, 
of whom they seem to have been much afraid. Nothing, every 
body knows, could be more remote, from either the opinion or 
practice of puritans, than priestly absolution, to the power of 
which they renounced all claims, and abhorred the very idea; 
besides, the parliament's army at this time stood in no need of 
such a mean subterfuge. It must therefore have been forged 
for the purpose of calumny. 

In 1644 he attended the commissioners at the treaty of Ux- 
bridge. In 1645 he was chosen one of the committee of ac- 
commodation, to secure the peace of the church, and promote, 
as far as possible, the satisfaction of all parties. In the year 

21 4 c 



570 MEMOIR OF 

following, be was appointed, along with Mr Joseph Caryl, 
chaplain to the commissioners who were sent to the king at 
Newcastle, with the view of accommodating the matters in dis- 
pute. Removing thence, by easy journies, to Holmby-house, 
the two chaplains performed divine service there; but his ma- 
jesty never attended. He spent his Lord's day in private; and 
though they waited at table, he would not so much as allow 
them to ask a blessing. The Oxford historian, who mentions 
this circumstance, relates the following anecdote : " It is said 
that Marshall, on one occasion, put himself more forward than 
was meet to say grace; but while he was long in forming his 
chops, as the manner was among the saints, and making ugly 
faces, the king said grace to himself, and had some part of his 
dinner eaten before Marshall had ended his blessing; but that 
Caryl was not so imprudent." In 1647, Mr Marshall was ap- 
pointed, together with Mr Vines, Mr Caryl, and Dr. Seaman, 
to attend the treaty at the Isle of Wight, where he conducted 
himself with great ability and moderation. In 1654, when the 
parliament voted a toleration of all who professed to hold by 
the fundamentals of Christianity, Mr Marshall was appointed 
one of the committee to draw up, and present to the House, a 
catalogue of these essential articles; and, about the same time, 
he was chosen one of the triers. 

A writer, already quoted, who employs thirty quarto pages, 
the principal part of which is filled up with scurrilous abuse, 
says, among other things, "Because the church could not be 
destroyed without also destroying the king, who was more firm- 
ly wedded to her than Mr Marshall to his wife, or his first liv- 
ing, the king, his adherents, the church and her ministers, 
must therefore be all destroyed together : That Mr Marshall, 
by his thundering in every pulpit, and cursing every person 
who hesitated to rebel, by encouraging all whose villany 
prompted them to undertake that accursed work, assuring 
them of no small preferment in heaven who would hazard or 
lose their lives in this glorious cause, by his menaces and pri- 
vate incitements, his becoming drum-major or captain-general 
of the army, by his praying, from regiment to regiment, at the 
battle of Edgehill, and in many other ways, had greatly contri- 
buted to the ruin of the church, and the death of the king. His 
religion, continues this malicious and worthless biographer, 
consisted wholly in externals, in a Jewish observation of the 
Sabbath, in praying, preaching, fasting, and thanksgiving, un- 
der which specious appearances the mystery of iniquity lay hid." 
But notwithstanding the abuse he has received from these 
high church bigots, be has an excellent character from many 
public and highly creditable individuals. Mr Baxter, who knew 



STEPHEN MARSHALL. .571 

him well, calls him a sober and worthy man, and often observ- 
ed, with regard to his moderation, " That if all the bishops 
were like Usher, the independents like Jeremiah Burroughs, 
and all the presbyterians like Stephen Marshall, the melancholy 
divisions of the church would have been easily accommodated." 

Mr Marshall fell into a bad state of health, and was obliged 
to retire to the country for the benefit of the air; upon which 
the Oxford Mercury published to the world that he had gone 
distracted, and, in his rage, continually cried out, " That he was 
damned for his adhering to the parliament in their war against 
the king." Much in the same manner was Luther served by 
the bigoted devotees of Rome; and such has generally been the 
treatment of all active and leading reformers, ancient and mo- 
dern. Cromwell was said to have made a literal compact with 
the devil, and to have signed the satanical compact with his 
own blood. Christ himself was denominated a drunkard, and 
in compact with Beelzebub the prince of devils; and thousands 
beside have been charged by their enemies with a death-bed re- 
pentance, for transactions in which they gloried with their ex- 
piring breath. Mr Marshall lived, however, to refute this un- 
generous calumny, and to publish a treatise, wherein he main- 
tains the lawfulness of defensive war against the government 
of a country in extreme cases. Upon his retiring from the city, 
he spent the two last years of his life at Ipswich; and his last 
words, according to Mr Petyt, were, " King Charles ! King 
Charles !" testifying his horror and regret for the bloody con- 
fusion he had promoted. In opposition to this, Mr Firman, 
who knew him in life, and attended him in death, says, in a 
preface to one of Mr Marshall's Posthumous Sermons, " That 
he left behind him few preachers like himself: That he was a 
christian in practice as well as profession : That he lived by 
faith, and died in faith, and was to believers an example, in 
word, in conversation, in charity, faith, and purity." That 
when he, and several others, conversed with him about his death, 
he said, " I cannot say, with one, I have not so lived that I 
should now be afraid to die; but this I can say, I have so 
learned Christ, that I am not afraid to die." He enjoyed the 
full exercise of his understanding to the last; but for some 
months previous to his dissolution his appetite was sadly im- 
paired, and he had lost the use of both his hands. 

He was justly accounted an admirable preacher; but in order 
to rob him of this part of his character, Dr. Gray quotes seve- 
ral passages from his sermons preached upon public occasions; 
among which are the following : " Beloved, our days are better 
than they were seven years ago, because it is better to see the 
Lord executing judgment, than to see men working wickedness? 



57^ - MEMOIR OF 

to behold people wallowing in their blood, rather than aposta- 
tizing from God, embracing idolatry, and banishing the Lord 
Christ from amongst men. Carry on the work still; leave not 
a rag belonging to popery; lay not a bit of the Lord's building 
with any thing belonging to antichrist; away with all of it, root 
and branch, head and tail — throw it out of the kingdom. 
Again, I could easily set before you a catalogue of mercies. 
You have all of you received many peculiar to your own per- 
sons, to your souls, your bodies, your estates, and families, 
privative mercies, positive mercies, you eat mercies, drink mer- 
cies, wear mercies, clothes, and are compassed about and cover- 
ed with mercies, as the earth was by the waters of Noah." 
These sermons, of which this is a specimen, selected for the 
purpose of ridiculing the preacher, are so full of striking com- 
parisons, and make so pointed an appeal to the hearers, that 
though they are not suited to the taste of modern eloquence, 
still it is easy to conceive how they might command the ad- 
miration of those times. The impartial and intelligent reader, 
it is presumed, will therefore be apt to consider the doctor ra- 
ther unhappy in his quotations. 

L'Estrange also endeavours to expose Mr Marshall to public 
contempt, on account of his sentiments delivered in his sermons 
before parliament. We give them in his own words, as tran- 
scribed from the printed copies. " Christ (says he) breaks and 
moulds commonwealths at his pleasure. He has not spoke 
much in his word how long they shall last, or what he intends 
to do with them; only this, that all kings and kingdoms that 
make war against the church shall be broken in pieces, and 
that in the end all the kingdoms of this world shall be the king- 
doms of our Lord and his saints, and they shall reign over 
them. Did any parliament in England ever lay the cause of 
Christ and religion to heart as this hath done ? Did ever the 
city of London, the rest of the tribes, and godly throughout the 
land, so willingly exhaust themselves that Christ might be ex- 
alted ? Let all England cry, our blood, our poverty, the sacri- 
fices we have made, and all the sufferings we have endured, are 
abundantly repaid in this, that there is such a general concur- 
rence in the nation for setting the Lord Christ upon his throne, 
to be Lord and Christ over this our Israel," &c. Wood styles 
him a notorious independent, and the archflamen of the rebel- 
lious rout. The truth is, Mr Marshall never was nn indepen- 
dent, but lived and died a presbyterian ; and with regard to his 
rebellion, few, it is presumed, but such as hold the absurd and 
happily exploded doctrines of passive obedience and non-resist- 
ance, will deny him the honour of being a zealous patriot, and 
a courageous defender of both the civil and religious rights of 



STEPHEN MARSHALL. 573 

his countrymen. Fuller has him classed among the learned 
writers of Emanuel college, and says, " He was a minister well 
qualified for his work." Although some suspected he had de- 
serted his preshyterian principles, he gave full satisfaction on 
his death-bed that it was not the case. He died in the month 
of November 1655, and was interred in Westminster Abbey 
with great funeral solemnity; but dug up, together with many 
others, at the restoration of Charles II. 

Mr Marshall wrote with considerable ability against the bap- 
tists, and had many sermons published which were preached 
before parliament. The following are the titles of such as we 
have been able to collect : 1. A Sermon preached to the Com- 
mons at their public Fast, Nov. 17th, 1640. — 2. A Peace- offer- 
ing to God, preached to the Commons at their public Thanks- 
giving, Sept. 7th, 1641. — 3. Meroz Cursed; a Sermon preach- 
ed to the Commons at their solemn Fast, Feb. 23d, 1641. — 4. 
Reformation and Desolation; a Sermon preached to the Com- 
mons at their Fast, Dec. 22d, 1642.— 5. The Song of Moses, 
the servant of God, and of the Lamb, opened, in a Sermon be- 
fore the Commons at their solemn Thanksgiving, June 15th, 
1643. — 6. A Copy of a Letter written by Mi- Stephen Marshall 
to a friend in the city, for the necessary vindication of himself 
and his ministry, from the altogether groundless, most unjust, 
and ungodly aspersions cast upon him by certain malignants in 
the city, dated 1643. — 7. A Sermon on the Baptism of Infants, 
preached in the Abbey church, Westminster, at the morning 
Lecture appointed by the House of Commons. — 8. The Church's 
Lamentation for the Good Man's loss; a Sermon preached be- 
fore both Houses of Parliament, and the Assembly of Divines, 
at the Funeral of John Pym, Esq. a late member of the House 
of Commons. — 9. God's Master-piece; a Sermon tending to set 
forth God's glorious appearance in building up Zion, preached 
before the Peers. — 10. The Strong Helper, or the interest and 
power of the prayers of the destitute for the building up of Zion; 
a Sermon preached before the Commons at their monthly Fast, 
April 30th, 1645. — 11. A Sacred Record to be made of God's 
mercies to Zion; a thanksgiving Sermon, preached before both 
Houses of Parliament, the Lord Mayor, and common council of 
the city of London, at Christ's church, June 19th, 1645. — 12. 
A Defence of Infant Baptism, in answer to two Treatises, with 
an Appendix.— 1 3. A Divine Project to save a Kingdom. — 14. 
A two-edged Sword to execute vengeance on the enemy and 
the avenger. — 15. The right understanding of the Times, 
preached before the Commons, Dec. 30th, 1646. — 16. A 
thanksgiving Sermon, preached in the Abbey church to both 
Houses, August 12th, 1647.— 17. A Sermon preached to the 



57 4» MEMOIR OF JOHN MAYNARD. 

Lord Mayor, and Court of Aldermen of the city of London, at 
their anniversary Meeting, April 1652. — 18. The Power of the 
Magistrate in matters of Religion vindicated, and the extent of 
his power determined, in a Sermon preached before the Parlia- 
ment on a monthly Fast. 



JOHN MAYNARD, A. M. 

Mr Maynard was born at Riverfield in Sussex. In 1616 
he became a commoner of Queen's college, Oxford, compound- 
ed for the degree of bachelor of arts, as a member of that House, 
and afterwards translated himself to Magdalen-hall, in the same 
university. In 1622 he took the degree of master of arts, en- 
tered into the holy ministry, and was settled at Mayfield, in his 
own county. On the commencement of the civil war he es- 
poused the cause of the parliament, and openly avowed his sen- 
timents. In 1643 he was chosen a member of the assembly of 
divines, took the covenant, and preached occasionally before the 
members of parliament. In 1645 he was appointed one of the 
assistants to the commissioners of the county of Sussex, for re- 
moving improper ministers and school-masters. Mr Elias 
Paul d'Aranda was for some time his assistant, when Mr 
Maynard allowed him all the ty thes, reserving to himself only 
the parson-house and glebe. He was ejected from Mayfield by 
the act of uniformity; after which he lived in the same town, 
and was highly respected. He was a considerable benefactor 
to Magdalen-hall, where he received part of his education. He 
recommended Mr Peck, his successor, to the patron, who pre- 
ferred him to the living of Mayfield. He died June 7th, 1665, 
and, according to his own request, was interred in the church-yard 
of Mayfield, where a stone, with a long and honourable inscrip- 
tion, was placed over his grave, setting forth, that he was a di- 
vine of irreproachable manners, pious, learned, and of venerable 
gravity, well skilled in history, and an excellent public speaker : 
That he shone, during the space of forty years, the light and 
glory of his flock at Mayfield, till, weary of the world, and ripe 
for glory, he departed from this sickly scene of pain, sorrow, 
discord, and animosity, that he might join the church of the 
first-born, and Jesus the Mediator. 

His writings are, 1. A Sermon to the Commons, from Prov. 
xxiii. 23.-2. A Shadow of the Victory of Christ.— 3. The 
Young Man's Remembrancer, and Old Man's Monitor. — 4. 
The Law of God ratified by the Gospel of Christ, in several 
Sermons. — 5. The Beauty and Oi'der of Creation displayed in 
six days work. 



575 



MATTHEW NEWCOMEN, A. M. 

Mr Newcomen had his education at St. John's college, 
Cambridge. Here he was greatly esteemed by the students for 
his wit and other curious parts; which being afterwards sancti- 
fied by the Spirit of truth, he became eminently serviceable to 
the cause of reformation. He succeeded the famous Mr John 
Rogers at Dedham. Their gifts were of a very different com- 
plexion. Mr Rogers was solid, grave, and severe, and deliver- 
ed his discourses with such a peculiarity of gesture and elocu- 
tion, that few heard him without trembling. He was truly one 
of the most awakening preachers of the age. Mr Newcomen's 
gifts were so diversified, that they lay almost every way. Dr. 
Collins, in his preface to Mr Fairfax's sermon, preached at his 
funeral, says, " That he had thirty years acquaintance of him, 
and in that time had been well acquainted with many learned 
and pious men; but never knew any that excelled Mr New- 
comen as a minister in the pulpit, a disputant in the schools, 
or as a desirable companion. His gift in prayer was incom- 
parable. He was a painful, pathetic, and persuasive preacher." 
In 1643 he was chosen one of the assembly of divines, and gave 
regular attendance during the session. He was employed, to- 
gether with Dr. Tuekney and Dr. Arrowsmith, in drawing up 
the assembly's catechism. He was engaged at this time also in 
preaching at Aldermanbury along with Mr Calamy. He was 
one of the commissioners sent to the Savoy conference, and had 
many oifers of great preferment after his settlement at Ded- 
ham ; all of which he declined accepting, and remained with his 
flock till ejected by the act of uniformity. Soon after this he 
was invited to take the pastoral charge of the English congre- 
gation at Leyden in Holland. He the more readily accepted of 
this invitation, knowing that there he would have full liberty 
for exercising his ministry without any restraint; which privi- 
lege he prized above any thing on earth. He was greatly re- 
spected by Dr. Hornbeck, and other professors and learned 
men in those parts, with whom he associated with much friend- 
ship and familiarity. He died of an epidemic fever, that greatly 
prevailed in that city, in 1668 or 1669. He was an accom- 
plished scholar, distinguished for universal learning, christian 
piety, humility, and pleasant conversation. Mr Baxter, in his 
own life, frequently mentions him, with much respect, as one 
of the ministers principally concerned in the transactions of 
those times. 

His works are, 1. Irenicum. — 2. A Sermon preached to the 
Commons, Nov. 5th, 1642. — 3. A Sermon preached to both 
Houses, and the Assembly of Divines, July 7tb, 1643. — 4. A 



5?6 MEMOIR OF 

Sermon tending to set forth the right improvement of the disas- 
ters of the army, preached before both Houses of Parliament at 
their extraordinary Fast, Sept. 12th, 1644. — 5. The all-seeing 
unseen Eye of God; a Sermon to the Commons, Dec. 30th, 
1646. — 6. The duty of such as would walk worthy of the gospel. — 
7. A Sermon at the Funeral of Mr Samuel Collins, pastor of 
Braintree in Essex. — 8. A farewell Sermon in the London Col- 
lection. — 9. Another Sermon in the Country Collection, en- 
titled, Ultimum Vale, or the last farewell of a minister of the 
gospel to his beloved people. — 10. The best acquaintance, and 
highest honour of christians, acquaint now thyself with him, 
and be at peace, &c. 



PHILIP NYE, A. M. 
Mr Nye was born in Sussex in the year 1596. He en- 
tered a commoner of Brazen-nose college, Oxford, in July 
1615; but soon after removed to Magdalen-hall, in the same 
university, where, having been put under the care of a puritani- 
cal tutor, he applied himself to his studies with uncommon dili- 
gence. Having taken his degrees in the arts, he entered into 
holy orders, and preached some time at Michael's church in 
Cornhill, London. Upon the death of Abbot, Laud became 
archbishop of Canterbury, and commenced a still more intoler- 
able persecution against the puritan divines; many of whom 
were silenced, some of them had their lectures put down, the 
most eminent for abilities, learning, and faithfulness, were dri- 
ven from one place to another, and many of them forced to 
leave the kingdom. Mr Nye, and several others, about this 
time, that they might escape the fury of the storm that raged 
around them, fled into Holland; where they were free from the 
inquisitorial power of the episcopalian courts, and the innova- 
tions which they were rigidly imposing on the English clergy, 
things with which Mr Nye was peculiarly ill pleased. Wood 
says, " That during his residence in Holland, he chiefly dwelt at 
Arnheim in Guelderland.' , 

About the beginning of the long parliament he returned to 
England, and, through the favour of the earl of Manchester, 
became minister of Kimbolton in Huntingdonshire. In 1643 
he was chosen one of the assembly of divines, and had the rec- 
tory of Acton, near London, conferred upon him. He was an 
active leader of the independents, and, accordingly, one of the 
dissenting brethren in that assembly. " When it came to his 
turn to oppose presbyterian government (says Mr Baillie), he 
had drawn up an argument from the xviii. of Matthew; but 
could never bring it into a syllogism to prove the inconsistency 



PHILIP NYE. 577 

ttf presbytery with a civil government." In this he was cried 
down by the members as impertinent. On the day following, 
however, when he saw the assembly full of the prime nobles, 
and the chief members of both Houses, he again introduced the 
same argument, and boldly offered to demonstrate, " That to 
draw a whole kingdom under one national assembly, such as 
had been done in Scotland, would be formidable, yea, thrice 
pernicious to any state or kingdom." Here he was cried down 
by all, and some members were for having him expelled the as- 
sembly as seditious. Mr Henderson, in particular, asserted, 
" That his speech was not merely opposed to the presbyterian 
mode of government, as established in Scotland and elsewhere, 
but that it also went to calumniate the government of all the 
reformed churches; and that it was with the same, or with si- 
milar arguments, that Lucian and the pagan orators were wont 
to alarm and stir up princes and statesmen against the christian 
religion in the early ages of the christian church." The assem- 
bly voted him out of order, which was their highest censure. 
The Scotch commissioners had several consultations how to act 
on the occasion, and at last came to the resolution not to meet 
with Mr Nye unless he acknowledged his fault. The indepen- 
dents, on the other hand, would not meet without him, and he 
tenaciously adhered to what he had advanced; at last the Scotch 
commissioners were entreated by their friends to pass it over in 
the best way they could, that the business of the assembly 
might not be interrupted. This affair, however, produced a 
happy result, inasmuch as Mr Nye was ever after one of the 
most accommodating individuals in the assembly *." 

Mr Nye and Mr Stephen Marshall were sent with the com- 
missioners from the English parliament to Scotland, to settle 
an agreement with the Scotch nation, and solicit their aid in 
the common cause of civil and religious liberty. Mr Hume, in 
his History of England, says, " That Marshall and Nye were 
two clergymen of signal authority." Nye was extremely zea- 
lous and active in recommending the solemn league and cove- 
nant. He delivered an excellent speech to the House of Com- 
mons, and the assembly of divines, at St. Margaret's church, 
Westminster, immediately before their subscribing said cove- 
nant, on the 25th Sept. 1643. This speech was published by 
special order of the House, and has been often printed since 
that time. He was also one of the chaplains appointed by par- 
liament to attend their commissioners to treat with the king in 
the Isle of Wight, in 1647. In 1653 he was chosen one of the 
triers; and in 1654, when parliament voted a toleration to all 
who professed to hold the fundamentals of Christianity, he was 

* Baillie't Letters. 

21 4 d 



57& MEMOIR OF 

appointed one of a committee to draw up said fundamental arti- 
cles for the consideration of the House. He was likewise con- 
stituted an assistant to the London commissioners for ejecting 
improper clergymen and school-masters. He was, moreover, a 
leading man in the Savoy meeting of independents, held by 
order of Oliver Cromwell the protector, where the declaration 
of the faith, order, and practice, of the congregational churches 
in England, were agreed upon by their elders and commission- 
ers, October 12th, 1658. This declaration was published in 
1659, and translated in 1660, by professor Hornbeck, and pub- 
lished at the end of his Epistola ad aurem Independentissimi. 

Mr Nye was thoroughly acquainted with the disciplinarian 
controversy, as appears from a small publication of his, entitled 
Beams of former Light; wherein he makes it evident, that he 
had read almost all that had been published on that subject. 
Some short time after the restoration, an order of parliament 
passed for Mr Nye to lodge all his papers with the archbishop 
of Canterbury at Lambeth, where it is said they remained a 
considerable time. Mr Nye was a deep politician. He had 
been peculiarly active in forwarding the reformation, and had 
proceeded with a high hand against the interest of the king. It 
was therefore debated in council, for several hours, whether the 
royal clemency ought to be extended to such a formidable anta- 
gonist. The result of the debate was, " That if Philip Nye, 
after the 1st of September next to come, should accept of, or 
exercise any office, ecclesiastic, civil, or military, he should, to 
all intents and purposes in law, stand as if he had been totally 
excepted from his majesty's mercy." He was ejected from 
Bartholomew's, behind the Exchange, London, and lived pri- 
vately afterwards, preaching to a congregation of independents 
as opportunity offered. He died in the parish of Michael Corn- 
hill, or near it, in September 1672, when about seventy-six 
years of age, and his remains were interred in Michael's church. 
Mr Nye left behind him the character of a man of uncommon 
depth of penetration, and of one who had seldom, if ever, been 
out-reached. Mr Calamy says, " He had a manuscript history 
of all the old puritans fit for the press, which was unfortunate- 
ly burnt at Alderman Clarkson's by the great fire of London. 

His works are, 1. A Letter from Scotland to his brethren in 
England, concerning the success of affairs in that Nation. — 2. 
An Exhortatiou to the taking of the solemn League and Cove- 
nant for the Reformation and Defence of Religion. — 3. The 
Excellency and lawfulness of the Solemn League and Covenant, 
in a speech to the Members of the House of Commons, and of 
the Assembly of Divines, on the 25th of September 1643, pub- 
lished with a collection of Sermons and Speeches delivered at 



PHILIP NYE. 579 

taking the Covenant. — 4. An Apologetical Narration, submitted 
to the Honourable Houses of Parliament. Mr Nye was assist- 
ed in this by Thomas Goodwin and others. — 5. An Epistolary 
Discourse upon Toleration. Thomas Goodwin and Samuel 
Hartlip are joined with him in this Discourse. — 6. The Keys of 
the Kingdom of Heaven, and the power thereof according to the 
word of God. Mr Wood says, " That Thomas Goodwin had 
also a hand in this work." — 7. Mr Anthony Sadler Examined. 
— 8. The Principles of Faith, presented by Thomas Goodwin 
and Philip Nye to the Committee of Parliament for Religion, 
by way of explanation to the proposals for propagating the gos- 
pel. — 9. Beams of former light. — 10. Case of great and present 
use. — 11. The Lawfulness of the Oath of Supremacy, and 
power of the King in matters Ecclesiastic, with Queen Eliza- 
beth's Admonition. — 12. A Vindication of Dissenters, proving 
that their particular congregations are not inconsistent with the 
king's supremacy in ecclesiastic affairs. — 13. Some Account of 
the nature, constitution, and power of Ecclesiastic Courts. — 
14. The lawfulness of hearing the ministers of the church of 
England; also a Sermon preached to the Citizens of London on 
the election of their Lord Mayor, Sept. 29th, 1659, 



WILLIAM REYNER, B. D. 

This pious puritan divine had his education at Cambridge. 
In his younger days he was very successful in his ministry 
amongst the gentry. He was offered the presidentship of Mag- 
dalen college, Oxford; but declined accepting the generous of- 
fer, though his living was not worth more than sixty pounds 
yearly, because he had always preached against pluralities, and 
was determined to act according to his judgment. He was ac- 
counted learned and pious, and accordingly chosen one of the 
assembly of divines, where he gave a constant attendance. He 
was minister of Egham, in the county of Surrey, near Lon- 
don, about forty-six years, and ejected from that place by the 
act of uniformity. Thus, though deprived of his benefice, and 
destitute of any apparent means of support, Mr Reyner was ne- 
ver in want; but lived cheerfully among his parishioners, who 
revered him as a father, and greatly lamented his death, which 
took place in 1666, and left the world with the reputation of a 
good man and a faithful minister, possessed of general learning, 
and eminently acquainted with church history. He was intimate 
with, and much respected by, archbishop Usher. Mr Richard 
Wavel was sent to live with Mr Reyner, and study theology 
under him, after having left the university of Oxford, and was 
in some manner his helper ever after, till ejected as above. 



5&Q MEMOIR OF 

Mr Rcyner wrote Babylon^ ruining Earthquake, arid the 
Restoration of Zion; a Sermon from Hag. ii. *7. preached before 
the House of Commons; which, according to Calamy, is all that 
he ever published. 



HERBERT PALMER, B. D. 

This laborious minister of Christ was born at Wingham, 
in the county of Kent, the 29th March 1601. He was descend- 
ed from an ancient and respectable family, related to several 
other notable families both of the gentry and nobility. His fa- 
ther was Sir Thomas Palmer of Wingham, and his mother the 
eldest daughter of Herbert Pelham of Sussex, Esq. Young 
Palmer, the subject of our present memoir, had a polite and re- 
ligious education in his younger years at his father's house, 
where he exhibited early symptoms of no ordinary genius. His 
mind was early impressed with religious feelings, and when 
about four years of age, he used to put remarkable questions to 
his mother about God and the world to come. His parents 
were careful to give him an early view of the christian system, 
and at the same time to improve his mind, by instructing him in 
the rudiments of literature. In these laudable endeavours they 
were remarkably successful, for their young pupil had learned 
the French language as soon as he could well speak; and from 
a child he was acquainted with the holy scriptures, which he 
daily read; and by committing portions of them to memory, he 
soon acquired such an accurate knowledge of the sacred writ- 
ings, as proved of excellent service when he became a preacher 
of the gospel. When his parents asked what course he was in- 
clined to pursue in the world, Whether he would choose to be 
a lawyer, a courtier, or a country gentleman ? his answer was, 
" That he wished, above all things, to be a minister." Some 
of his friends, in order to sound him effectually, seemed to dis- 
suade him, by telling him that preaching was too mean an em- 
ployment for a gentleman, and that the ministers of Christ 
were generally despised, hated, and often persecuted. " It is 
no matter for that (said he), if the world hate me, God will 
love me." 

After being well instructed in the elementary parts of learn- 
ing, he was admitted fellow-commoner in St. John's college, 
Cambridge, in the year 1615, when about fourteen years of age. 
Here he prosecuted his studies with all diligence, and continu- 
ed to serve the Lord with undiminished fervour of spirit. In 
1622 he took his degree of arts, and, in the following year, was 
chosen fellow of Queen's college, in the same university. Be- 
ing a gentleman by birth, and having, beside his fellowship, an 



HERBERT PALMER. 581 

estate of his own, he had very probably more than sufficient for 
his maintenance; yet he cheerfully undertook the charge of 
many scholars, as this charge was considered a part of his of- 
fice. While thus employed in Queen's college, Mr Palmer was 
called, and solemnly ordained, a minister of the gospel; a work 
to which, from his childhood, he had been entirely devoted. 
Blessed with the knowledge of Christ, and the power of divine 
grace in his own soul, he possessed a liberal portion of mini- 
sterial qualifications, and an ardent desire to be serviceable to 
the souls of men. 

On visiting his brother, Sir Thomas Palmer, at Wingham, 
he was solicited by some friends to preach a sermon at the ca- 
thedral church of Canterbury; which proved highly acceptable 
to the audience, particularly those who were seriously religious. 
The report of this induced the French minister at Canterbury 
to court his acquaintance, who accordingly paid him a visit; 
which was highly pleasing to both, and laid the foundation of a 
profitable and lasting friendship. This French minister, Mr 
Deline, requested him to give them another sermon at Canter- 
bury; which he did, greatly to the satisfaction of the people, 
who now began to express an earnest desire that Mr Pal- 
mer's ministry might be continued amongst them. At length 
having obtained the object of their desire, they received 
him with every demonstration of joy and gratitude. At a lec- 
ture kept up here, Mr Palmer preached on the afternoon of 
every Sabbath to crowded assemblies. His discourses were 
heavenly, plain, and practical. He discharged the duties of his 
office with all diligence and godly sincerity, and his zeal for the 
purity of divine institutions was manifested by his opposition to 
the corrupt innovations that were now coming in like a flood. 
At this time, however, he had not that clear view which he af- 
terwards obtained concerning some of the ceremonies, or the in- 
ordinate and unscriptural power of the bishops; but he was zea- 
lous according to knowledge, and fortified his hearers against 
the pernicious influence of the increasing abominations daily 
imposing on the church. He visited his flock, even of the low- 
est rank, as often as possible; and by his instructions and pious 
admonitions, greatly contributed to a reformation of manners in 
that city. At the request of the elders of the French congre- 
gation in this place, he preached twice at some of their solemn 
occasions in their own language, which he could speak with 
great fluency. An aged French lady, on one of these occasions, 
observing his small stature, and child-like appearance on en- 
tering the pulpit, said, " Alas ! what can this child say to us ?" 
But on hearing him pray, and proceed with His sermon, she 
held up her hands in amazement, and blessed God for what she 
had heard. 



582 MEMOIR OF 

Mr Palmer's success in this place was great; but not without 
great opposition. His piety, zeal, and faithfulness, raised him 
enemies, particularly among the cathedralists. His high birth 
and powerful friends partly intimidated them; but some of their 
leaders ventured to exhibit articles against him, and though the 
goodness of his cause, and the solidity of his defence, brought 
him off for this time, his lecture was afterwards put down, with 
the rest of the afternoon sermons. By the interference of some 
persons of powerful influence he was restored for some time; 
but removed from Canterbury at last. In the meantime, his 
friends at court employed all their influence to have him made 
a prebendary at Canterbury ; but were not successful, for which 
he afterwards blessed God. He saw that by this disappoint- 
ment he had been mercifully delivered from many temptations; 
as Laud, the succeeding archbishop, made use of that company 
as his tools for introducing and promoting superstition. 

Mr Palmer removed to Ash well, in Hertfordshire, in the year 
1632. He was presented to the vicarage of that place by Laud 
himself, who, in his defence before the House of Peers, insisted 
on this as a proof of his impartiality. Here, as formerly, he 
was indefatigably laborious. He had a just view of the impor- 
tance and responsibility of the pastoral office, and his great con- 
cern was to feed the church of God which he had purchased 
with his own blood. He preached twice every Lord's day, and 
frequently on other occasions, as he had opportunity. In visit- 
ing the sick, or those under other heavy afflictions, he availed 
himself of their situation, when the Lord had thus softened 
their hearts, and opened their ears to receive instruction, to lay 
before them the sources of comfort, consolation, and good hope 
through grace. From the same principle he was favourable to 
funeral sermons, conceiving that the minds of men, especially 
those nearly concerned, might be advantageously impressed on 
such occasions, by exhibiting suitable views of death and the 
world to come. 

He catechised the people of his charge both publicly and in 
private, and for their help composed and published a catechism, 
which was highly approved. In order the more effectually to 
suppress the evils which prevailed amongst his parishioners, he 
engaged some of their most respectable characters to unite their 
influence and endeavours with his own. Hence profane swear- 
ing, Sabbath profanation, drunkenness, whoredom, quarrelling, 
and other vices, were rendered odious, and in process of time 
greatly diminished. 

Mr Palmer was remarkable for his charity on all proper oc- 
casions, but more especially in furnishing the poor, who could 
read, with bibles, and in supplying those who could not with 



HERBERT PALMER. 583 

money to enable and encourage them to learn. The order of 
his family was highly worthy of imitation by all real christians 
and christian ministers. His house was, in reality, a school of 
religion, where the best instruction, and the best example, were 
always enjoyed. He was careful that none should be admitted 
into his family who were not at least willing to be instructed 
in the ways of God. He maintained family- worship twice 
every day, and all the inmates were obliged to attend, and ca- 
techised his family twice every week. 

In 1632 he was chosen one of the preachers to the universi- 
ty of Cambridge; and having proceeded bachelor of divinity 
about two years before, he was thus authorized to preach, as he 
should have occasion, in any part of the kingdom of England. 
In 1640, Mr Palmer, and the celebrated Dr. Tnckney, were 
chosen clerks for the convocation of the diocese of Lincoln; 
and being eminently distinguished for his learning and piety, 
he was chosen a member of the assembly of divines in 1643, and 
afterwards one of their assessors; in both of which capacities he 
conducted himself with the utmost prudence and propriety. 
His talents were truly excellent. He had a quick apprehension, a 
steady judgment, a tenacious memory? and a ready elocution. In 
their debates, either on doctrine or discipline, or when an accu- 
rate statement of the question was wanted, Mr Palmer was one 
of the first to find the genuine sense of scripture respecting 
either. He was for a presbyterian form of church government; 
the principles of which he well understood, and knew how to 
defend. He was a powerful instrument in promoting that form 
of church government, opposed as it then was by so many very 
learned and able independent divines. It was some time, how- 
ever, before he could be brought to acquiesce in the divine right 
of ruling elders; but by the learned debates on that subject, and 
especially by the authority of 1 Cor. xii. 28. where government 
is attributed to a distinct rank of officers who are set forth as 
inferior to teachers; and of 1 Tim. v. 17. which implies, that 
there are other elders who rule well, besides those who labour 
in word and doctrine, he was induced to acquiesce. 

On being called up to the assembly of divines, Mr Palmer 
was obliged to leave his ordinary residence at Ashwell, and 
could only make some occasional visits to that place; but re- 
solved to employ all his time and talents in the work of the 
gospel. He preached wherever desired in the London churches, 
but determined, in his own mind, to accept of the first invitation 
to a place, where he might have the constant exercise of his mi- 
nistry; and being soon after invited to Duke's-place, London, 
he readily accepted, although the support was small. But 
afterwards having received a very pressing invitation to become 



584 MEMOIR OF 

pastor at Newehurch, Westminster, he removed thither, and 
was the first pastor of that church. In each of these situations 
he was greatly esteemed, and his preaching, expounding, ca- 
techising, and other ministerial labours, as formerly, were most 
abundant. He was one of those divines, who, by appointment 
of parliament, carried on the morning lecture at the Abbey 
church, Westminster. It was always considered wonderful, how 
a man, of such a weakly constitution, could perform so much 
work. He frequently spoke in public for the space of six or 
eight hours on the Sabbath-day, besides his weekly duties., 
which were also numerous. When his friends advised him to 
spare himself, hinting that his labours were above the strength 
of his constitution, he replied, " That his strength would spend 
of itself though he did nothing, and that it could not be better 
spent than in the service of him in whom he lived, moved, act- 
ed, and existed." In 1644. he was constituted master of Queen's 
college, Cambridge, by the earl of Manchester, who, by an or- 
dinance of parliament, was appointed to reform that university. 
He succeeded Dr. Edward Martin, who was one of Laud's 
chaplains, and a man of high church principles. Under the 
guidance of this new master, the Queen's college flourished 
to the astonishment of all. He was careful that none should 
be admitted to a scholarship or a fellowship who were not both 
learned and religious; and that the whole society should attend 
the public worship of God, and strictly observe the Lord's day. 
The young scholars and college servants he also instructed in 
the principles of religion. The sermons in the chapel, which 
were formerly used only in term-time, he caused to be continu- 
ed weekly throughout the year; and when present in the college, 
he frequently preached himself, or expounded some part of the 
holy scriptures. He endeavoured, by all means, to have the 
college library furnished with good authors; for which he readi- 
ly gave himself, and excited others to give considerable sums. 
Moreover, certain dues, payable to the college, which had been 
formerly expended in feasting, he converted to the purchase 
of valuable books for the library. While in this place, he be- 
stowed a large proportion of his income upon the yearly main- 
tenance of poor scholars. He bestowed favours on merit only; 
and what he promised, he never failed to perform. His exer- 
tions, in reforming and improving his college, were so successful, 
and met with such unqualified approbation, that it is doubtful 
if ever the head of any society was taken from them with more 
general sorrow and regret. In 1645 he was appointed one of 
the committee of accommodation. 

Mr Palmer was a most consistent and conscientious non-con- 
formist. In matters where his own interest was merely at stake, 



HERBERT PALMER. 585 

few men were move ready to deny themselves; but wherever 
the interest of religion, the honour of God, and the salvation of 
men, were concerned, he was constant and immoveable; and 
when called to preach at the bishop of Lincoln's visitation, he 
spoke against the existing corruptions of the church with the 
greatest freedom, though well aware of the hazardous conse- 
quences. When the Book of Sports, bowing to the altar, read- 
ing part of the service in the chancel, and other superstitious 
innovations were imposed, he resolved to lose all rather than 
offend God by encouraging such profanity and superstition. 
He was a constant and vigorous opposer of the unhallowed oath 
of canonical obedience; yet the prelates seem to have been less 
severe to him than to many others. Being highly reputed for 
learning and piety, Mr Palmer was often called to preach be- 
fore parliament; for which he has incurred the displeasure of 
some high-principled historians. One of these bitter enemies 
of all religious freedom, with the design of ridiculing our author, 
has transcribed the following passage from one of his dedica- 
tions, addressed to the earl of Essex, then general of the parlia- 
ment's army : " God hath put you in his own place. God has 
graced you with his own name. Lord of hosts, general of ar- 
mies. God hath committed to your care what is most precious 
to himself, his precious gospel, his precious ordinances, a preci- 
ous parliament, and a precious people. God hath called forth 
your excellency as a choice worthy to be a general, and the 
champion of Jesus Christ to fight his great and last battle with 
antichrist in this your native kingdom *." The candid and in- 
telligent reader, who chooses to contrast the above quotation 
with the pompous epithets applied to royalty; such as the sa- 
cred Majesty of the Sovereign vicegerent of God, with abun- 
dance of other appellations equally ridiculous, will easily per- 
ceive where the jest lies. 

Mr Palmer was a man of great temperance. He drank no 
strong drink, and wine only when his health rendered it neces- 
sary. He would eat only of one dish, nor that of the most de- 
licate; and so parsimonious was he of time, that he scarcely us- 
ed any other recreation than to refresh himself with the chris- 
tian conversation of his friends. His last sickness was but 
short. His constitution was delicate from the beginning, and 
now his strength was nearly spent. When his friends recom- 
mended him to cast the burden of his pains and sickness on the 
Lord, he said, " I should act very unworthily indeed were I to 
reject the remedy I have so often and so earnestly recommend- 
ed to others." He was much engaged in prayer for the nation, 
the church of God, and all with whom connected, either as 

* L'Estrange's Dissenters' Sayings, part xi. p. 50. 

21 4e 



586 MEMOIR OF 

men or christians; and having lived a devoted servant of God 
in the gospel of his Son, so he died full of inward peace and 
comfort, in the lively exercise of faith, patience, and submission 
to the will of his heavenly Father, in the year 1647, aged forty- 
six years. His remains were interred in New church, West- 
minster. 

Mr Clark says, " He was remarkable for humility, meekness, 
faith, and patience; that he possessed a quick apprehension, a 
sound judgment, a strong memory, and a happy elocution, and 
that he was almost unbounded in acts of liberality, a strict ob- 
server of the Sabbath, and the religious order of his family." 
Granger styles him a man of uncommon learning, generosity, 
and politeness, and says, " That he had a most excellent cha- 
racter, was a lover of peace, and could speak the French language 
as fluently as his mother tongue." 

His works are, 1. The Principles of Religion made plain and 
easy. — 2. Of making Religion one's business. This last was 
afterwards published with several other pieces, and entitled, 
Memorials of Godliness and Christianity; the 13th edition of 
which was published in 1708. — 3. The necessity and encou- 
ragement for utmost venturing for the Church's help; a Ser- 
mon preached to the Commons, 28th June 1643. — 4. The Glass 
of God's Providence towards his faithful ones; a Sermon 
preached to the Houses of Parliament, at Margaret's, Westmin- 
ster, August 13th, 1644. — 5. Vindiciae Sabbathae, assisted by Mr 
Daniel Cawdrey. — 6. Scripture and Reason pleaded for Defen- 
sive arms — assisted by others. 

ANDREW PERNE, A. M. 

This worthy man was born in 1596; and having been fel- 
low of Katherine-hall, Cambridge, it is probable he had his edu- 
cation in that university. Having finished his studies, he be- 
came rector of Wilby in Northamptonshire, where he continued 
a faithful and successful preacher for twenty-seven years. In 
1643 Mr Perne was chosen one of the assembly of divines, and 
constantly attended during the whole session. He preached 
often before parliament, and several of his sermons were pub- 
lished, one of which is entitled, Gospel Courage. Being called 
up to London, he soon obtained great celebrity, and had the of- 
fer of considerable preferments; which he declined accepting, 
having resolved to return to his beloved people at Wilby so soon 
as the business of the assembly was finished. He returned ac- 
cordingly) and by his awakening sermons, and exemplary life, 
was instrumental in effecting a most desirable reformation 
amongst his people, who revered and loved him as a father. 
" He was full of spiritual warmth (says Mr Ainsworth), filled 



ANDREW PERNE. 587 

with an holy indignation against sin, active in his work, and 
never more in his element than when in the pulpit. His life 
was a transcript of the doctrine he taught to others, and his lat- 
ter end was peace. He Messed God that he was not afraid to 
die; nay, he even desired to depart, and often cried out, during 
his last sickness, c When will that desirable hour arrive ? One 
assault more, said he, and this shattered earthen vessel goes to 
pieces, and then shall I be with God.' " He died, December 
13th, 1654, aged about sixty years, Mr Ainsvvorth preached 
his funeral sermon, and his remains were interred in the chan- 
cel of Wilby church, where, at the foot of the altar, the follow- 
ing monumental inscription was erected to his memory : 

■ Here lies interred Mr Andrew Perne, a faithful servant of 
Jesus Christ, a zealous owner of God's cause in perilous times, 
a powerful and successful preacher of the gospel, and a great 
blessing to this town and country, where he lived twenty-seven 
years."— -He has a place in Burnham's Pious Memorials, and 
also in the Lives of the Puritans. 



BENJAMIN PICKERING. 

Mr Pickering, when chosen a member of the assembly 
of divines, as appears by the ordinance of parliament for calling 
that assembly, was minister of East-Hoathley. The year fol- 
lowing, however, it appears, from the title-page of one of his 
sermons, which he preached at that time before the House of 
Commons, that he was then minister of God's word at Buck- 
stead in Sussex. The sermon alluded to was preached from 
Zech. iii. 2. and entitled, A Fire-brand pluckt out of the Burn- 
ing. In the dedicatory epistle addressed to the House of Com- 
mons, and prefixed to this sermon, he exhorts the honourable 
senators to fan the fire of their zeal for the house of our God, to 
establish his ordinances and worship in purity, without the un- 
hallowed mixture of heresy and superstition : Not to delay to 
set up a faithful ministry in the church, and establish justice 
and judgment in the gates; and so to conduct the great work 
of reformation committed to their management, that glory may 
yet dwell in our land, and that mercy and truth, righteousness 
and peace, may meet and mutually embrace each other. " The 
Jewish builders (says he) were surrounded with as many and 
great difficulties, and as many discouraging circumstances in 
the prosecution of their reformation, and the rebuilding of their 
desolate temple, as ourselves. They were engaged in a great 
undertaking. Their enemies, like ours, were numerous and 
powerful, they were also crafty and near at hand; while the 
king's power and authority? in place of affording them protec- 



588 MEMOIR OF BENJAMIN PICKERING. 

tion and encouragement, were exercised in prohibiting the whole 
course of their procedure, and that under the pains of trea- 
son and rebellion; yet this did not damp their courage, they 
went on and prospered. God, in a strange and unexpected course 
of providence, removed the impediments that stood in their way, 
and led them, step by step, to a triumph, not by their own 
might, power, or policy, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts. 
Consider, ye worthies, that you are now engaged in a work, than 
which the sun never shone on one of greater magnitude and 
importance — a work which will require all your energy, and 
the exercise of all your wisdom. Were you now to grow cool, 
and careless, and lukewarm, in this interesting concern, ye 
would thereby undo all that has hitherto been effected. You 
have done much towards pulling down the tyrannical hierarchy 
of Rome; you have begun, and prosecuted, with surprising suc- 
cess, a glorious reformation; you have suffered much as a par- 
liament; you have hazarded your persons, your estates, and 
your families; you have suffered much contradiction, and many 
reproaches, from your enemies; but you have also had many 
grateful acknowledgments from yours, and the friends of reli- 
gion, both in city and country. Lose not, then, such enviable 
acquisitions, by relaxing your zeal in so worthy and so glorious 
an enterprize. Up and be doing, otherwise you may yet be ex- 
posed to the cruel mockings of men, who look, and long, and 
sigh for the flattening of your spirits in this momentous un- 
dertaking. Oh ! how would those of Gath and Askelon, the 
blind devotees of Rome, laugh, jeer, and rejoice over us, were 
this the unhappy result of so many sacrifices, and so many tri- 
umphs. We have made our boast in God, let not therefore our 
confident boasting make us ashamed: but labour to secure the 
purity of the faith, with freedom, peace, and prosperity to our 
rising offspring, who must otherwise sink into a debasing sla- 
very, and lose themselves in the intricate mazes of a bewilder- 
ing superstition. Consider, for your encouragement, that an- 
tichrist's day is approaching, her end is near. Babylon must 
be destroyed, therefore faint not, nor grow weary in well-do- 
ing; for in due time the cheering voice shall ring from island to 
continent, Babylon the great is fallen — is fallen, and shall rise 
no more. You have given her a deadly blow already; follow 
up your advantage; give her wounds no time to heal. The 
beast roars, struggles, and bestirs herself, gapes for breath, 
seems to collect her spirits, and resume her courage; but it is 
only the expiring flash, the naturoe ultimus conatus, which we 
call a lightning before death. Now, therefore, is the time for 
animated and united exertion, in order to make a full end of 
the whore who has so long corrupted the world by the filthincss 
of her fornication." 



589 

EDWARD REYNOLDS, D. D. 

This eminent divine was born at Southampton, a sea-port 
in Hampshire, November 1593. He was educated at the free 
school of the same town; and in 1615 became postmaster of 
Merton college, Oxford, and probationer fellow in 1620; which 
place he obtained by his superior knowledge of the Greek 
language. Here he was greatly distinguished as a disputant, 
and his oratorical powers were considered of the first order. Af- 
ter taking his degrees in arts, he entered into the ministry, and 
became one of the first pulpit-men of the age. He was for 
some time preacher to the honourable society of Lincoln's Inn, 
and rector of Branton in Northamptonshire. In 1642, when 
the civil war broke out, he espoused the cause of parliament, 
having been a puritan in opinion long before this period. He 
was chosen one of the assembly of divines in 1643, and after- 
wards appointed one of the committee for examining and ap- 
proving of such ministers as petitioned for sequestrated livings. 
In 1645 he was chosen a member of the committee of accom- 
modation. He took the covenant, was frequently employed in 
preaching in London, and some times before parliament, by 
whom he was appointed one of the six ministers for preaching 
the scholars at Oxford into obedience. Some time after this he 
was chosen one of the visitors to that university, where, in 1648, 
he was made dean of Christ church, and vice-chancellor of the 
university; about which time he took his degrees in divinity. 
He held both his places till the latter end of 1650, when he was 
ejected from his deanery for refusing the engagement. After 
this he lived for the most part in London, and was for some 
time minister of Laurence-jewry. He was greatly esteemed by 
the people, especially the Calvinists, who considered him, as 
Wood informs us, the oracle and glory of the presbyterian par- 
ty; but having been long dissatisfied with Cromwell's govern- 
ment, he used his powerful interest among the citizens for the 
purpose of promoting general Monk's plan for restoring the king. 
When the secluded members of parliament were restored, 
the doctor was reinstated in his deanery of Christ church, on the 
11th of March 1659; and on the 26th of May 1660, he and Mi- 
Edward Calamy were appointed chaplains to his majesty, who 
at this time was waiting at Canterbury for his restoration. 
After this he preached several times before the king and both 
Houses of Parliament; and, in the end of June, being desired 
to give up his deanery, he was elected, by virtue of the king's 
letter, warden of Merton college, Oxford. The doctor, about 
this time, conformed to the established ritual, and was accord- 
ingly consecrated bishop of Norwich, on the 6th of January fol- 



590 MEMOIR OF 

lowing. Thus, after having taken the covenant, and preached 
down episcopacy and the ceremonies of the church of England, 
Dr. Reynolds was consecrated, with all these ceremonies, in 
Peter's church, Westminster. " But (says Wood) it was 
thought by his contemporaries, that he would never have conde- 
scended to a conformity, but for the importunity of a covetous 
and politic consort. Be this as it may, the darling of the pres- 
byterians became the bishop of Norwich. The times were 
changed, all hopes of preferment on the other side had vanish- 
ed, and though several divines also changed, the only wonder 
is, that their number was so small." 

According to Wood, Dr. Reynolds was a man of considerable 
wit, excellent fancy, and sound judgment, a great divine, and 
highly esteemed by all parties for his preaching and flowery 
style. Another respectable individual, who must have been 
well acquainted with him, says, " He was a man of singular af- 
fabilitv and meekness, of great learning, a frequent and much 
admired preacher, and a constant resident." Mr Neal, more- 
over, tells us, " That he was reckoned one of the most eloquent 
pulpit-men in his time, and a good old puritan, who never 
troubled himself about the politics of the court." 

His writings are, 1. The Vanity of the Creature. — 2. The 
Sinfulness of Sin.— 3. The fellowship of the Saints with Christ ? 
in his life, sufferings, resurrection, and glory. — 4. Meditations 
on the Holy Sacrament. — 5. Israel's Prayer in the time of trou- 
ble, with God's gracious answer; in seven Sermons on as many 
days of fasting and humiliation. — 6. A Treatise on the Passions 
and the Faculties of the Soul of Man. Thirty of his Sermons, 
preached from 1644 till his death, were published together in 
the second impression of his works. — 7. The English Annota- 
tions on Ecclesiastes, which have been much admired, are from 
his pen. — He is also said to have been the author of the Hum- 
ble Proposal respecting the engagement, and probably of many 
things beside. His works were, and are still, much admired by 
many. He is extremely happy in his similitudes. 

HENRY SCUDDER, B. D. 

This pious and practical puritan divine received his edu- 
cation in Christ college, Cambridge, and afterwards became 
minister at Drayton in Oxfordshire; where his exemplary life, 
his ministerial labours, prudence, and pastoral care, procured 
him an excellent reputation. He was afterwards removed to 
Collingburn Dukes in Wiltshire; and, in 1643, he was chosen 
a member of the assembly of divines. He was most eminently 
distinguished as author of an excellent work, entitled, The 
Christian's Daily Walk. This book contains familiar directions 



HENRY SCUDDER. 591 

how we ought to walk with God through the whole course of 
our lives. It has passed through many impressions, and is in 
great estimation amongst pious christians in the present day. 
Dr. Owen and Mr Richard Baxter have both prefixed their 
warmest recommendations to the work. Dr. Owen says, " It 
is now more than thirty years since I first perused the ensuing 
treatise; and though, till the present occasion, I have neither 
read, nor, to my knowledge, have I seen it since, yet the im- 
pression it left upon me, in the days of my youth, has, to say no 
more, hitherto continued to keep up the grateful remembrance 
of it on my heart. Being desired to give some testimony of its 
worth and utility to this new edition, I consider myself under 
an obligation to do so, from the benefit I myself have received 
from a perusal; and having again read it over with a more close 
and critical consideration, I shall only acquaint the reader, that 
I am so far from making any abatement in my former estima- 
tion of the work, that my respect for, and valuation of its worth, 
is greatly increased. There is generally that soundness and 
gravity in the whole doctrine, that weight of wisdom in the di- 
rections given for practice, that judgment in the resolving of 
doubts and objections, that breathing of a spirit of holiness, 
zeal, humility, and the fear of God, in the whole work, that I 
judge, and I am satisfied, that it will be found of singular use 
to all such as desire sincerely to comply with the author's 
design." 

Mr Baxter says, " I have no recollection of any book, writ- 
ten for the daily companion of christians, to guide them in the 
practice of a holy life, which I would prefer to this. I am sure 
none of my own. For so sound is the doctrine of this book, so 
prudent, spiritual, apt, and savoury, and all so well suited to 
our ordinary cases and conditions, that I heartily wish no fami- 
ly were without a copy. Many a good and useful volume is 
now in the hands of religious people, which I would much ra- 
ther were unknown than this; and I think it more serviceable 
to the souls of men to call them to the notice and use of this, 
and bring such old and excellent writings out of obscurity and 
oblivion, than to encourage very many who over-value their 
own, and promote the multiplication of things common and un- 
digested." This work was so much esteemed, that it has been 
translated into high Dutch by Theodore Haak, who translated 
the Dutch Annotations into English, and is said to have first 
projected the plan of the Royal Society in London. Mr Scud- 
der likewise wrote the Life of Mr William Whately, and God's 
Warning to England by the Voice of his Rod: a Sermon 
preached from Micah vi. 9. before the House of Commons^ 
October 30th, 1644. 



59% MEMOIR OF 

LAZARUS SEAMAN. 

Mr Seaman was born in Leicester, and educated in Ema- 
nuel college, Cambridge; but coming to tbe college in mean cir- 
cumstances, be was soon obliged to leave it, and teach in a 
school for his subsistence. Dr. Calamy says, " His learning 
sprung from himself. He applied so closely to his studies, that 
he made great proficiency in different branches of learning." 
He was for some time chaplain to the earl of Northumberland. 
He procured the lecture at St. Martin's, Ludgate, by a sermon 
he preached at that place; and by his remarkable talents and in- 
dustry, he soon gained a splendid reputation, both in the religi- 
ous and learned world. In 1642 he was presented to Bread 
Street parish by bishop Laud, in consequence of an order of 
parliament for that purpose. 

In 1643 Mr Seaman was chosen one of the assembly of di- 
vines. He was a very active member, and eminently skilful 
in the management of theological disputes. Few, or none, 
could so readily decide a dark and doubtful controversy. In 
1644 he was constituted master of Peter-house, in the universi- 
ty of Cambridge, by the earl of Manchester, after having been 
examined and approved by the assembly of divines. In this 
public situation he discovered his great abilities, learning, and 
usefulness, acquitted himself with honour and propriety, and 
acquired uncommon celebrity. He took his degree of doctor 
in divinity, by performing the exercises appointed in the sta- 
tutes of the university, and did not obtain it by the favour of 
majesty, nor procure it by money, as many have done. He was 
an excellent casuist, a clear and judicious expositor of the holy 
scriptures, and a powerfully moving preacher. In his latter 
days he studied chiefly the prophetical writings, and wrote notes 
on the Revelations, which he presented to lord Warton ; but it 
does not appear that they were ever printed. He lost all his 
places at the restoration, being ejected by the act of uniformity; 
after which he lived chiefly in Warwick-court, London, and 
died a non-conformist, about the 9th of September 1675, 
" much lamented (Wood says) by the brethren, in regard he was 
a learned man." The patience he exercised under the most 
acute pains, during his last sickness, was truly admirable. In 
the "midst of his tortures he admired the free grace, mercy, and 
loving-kindness of God, and extolled his glorious sovereignty, 
who is just in all his ways, and holy in all his works. Mr Wil- 
liam Jenkyn, who was intimately acquainted with him, and 
who, at his request, preached his funeral sermon, says, " He 
was a man of the most deep and piercing judgment in all points 
of controversial divinity — I had almost said, an invincible dis- 



LAZARUS SEAMAN. 593 

putant; for his conquests were as numerous as the controversies 
in which he had been engaged with the enemies of the truth. 
So conspicuous, indeed, were his abilities in this respect, that 
he sometimes disheartened his antagonists on their very en- 
trance into the lists of disputation. At the request of an ho- 
nourable lady, the head of a noble family, who had been often 
solicited by the popish clergy to change her religion, and be- 
come a Roman catholic, Mr Seaman engaged two of the ablest 
priests they could select, in a dispute on transubstantiation, in the 
presence, and for the satisfaction, of both heads of the family. But 
the crafty priests, finding they had to deal with a man of abi- 
lity, shamefully deserted the field, without daring either to give 
or take the stroke of a formed syllogism; while those persons, 
who were popishly inclined, stood amazed and ashamed of their 
champions. I may truly say of Dr. Seaman, continues he, that he 
was an ocean of theology, and that he had so thoroughly digest- 
ed the whole body of divinity, that he could, on any occasion, 
discourse upon any point of Christianity without labour. He 
was strongly attached to the truth, and ready, on all proper 
occasions, to appear in its defence. He was deeply and ten- 
derly affected with the state of the church of Christ, ever anxi- 
ous to learn how it fared with the people of God in foreign 
parts, not from an Athenian curiosity, but from a public spirit 
of Christianity. He rejoiced with them who did rejoice, and 
wept with them that wept. He was laboriously industrious in 
his calling, prudent both in speech and behaviour, an example 
of fortitude, faith, and patience, a man of universal benevolence, 
and ready for every good work. His library, which was valu- 
able for the time, was the first that had ever been sold in Eng- 
land by auction, and brought seven hundred pounds. 

His works are, 1. A Precedent for Kings and Princes, and 
all who are in authority; a Sermon before the House of Com- 
mons. — 2. The Head of the Church the Judge of the World; a 
Sermon preached before the House of Peers. — 3. A Vindication 
of the Judgment of the Reformed Churches, and Protestant Di- 
vines, from misrepresentations concerning ordination and the 
laying on of hands. — 4. A Sermon before the Lord Mayor 
against Divisions, April 7th, 1650. — 5. A farewell Sermon at 
his ejectment, from Heb, xiii. 20, 21. 



OBADIAH SEDGWICK, B. D. 

This distinguished individual was born at Marlborough in 
Wiltshire in 1600, and received the elementary part of his edu- 
cation at or near the place of his birth. In 1616 he was re- 
moved to Queen's college, Oxford, where, after continuing for 

22 4f 



5<H< MEMOIR OF 

some time, he removed to Magdalen-hall. Having finished his 
academical studies, he entered the ministry, and became chap- 
lain to lord Horatio Vire, whom he accompanied into the Low 
Countries. On his return to England he again went to Ox- 
ford, and in the year 1629 was admitted to the reading of the 
sentences. He was tutor to Matthew Hale, afterwards lord 
chief justice of England. Leaving the university a second time, 
he became preacher at St. Mildred's, Bread Street, London; 
from which he was soon driven by the intolerance of the 
bishops. In the year 1639 he became vicar of Coggeshal in 
Essex, where he remained two or three years. Upon the com- 
mencement of the war he returned to his ministry at St. Mil- 
dred's, and was often appointed to preach before parliament. 
In 1642 he accompanied colonel Holies' regiment, in the parlia- 
ment's army, as chaplain. In the following year he was ap- 
pointed one of the licensers for the theological department of 
the press, and chosen one of the assembly of divines; which he 
constantly attended. Wood tells us, " That while he preached 
at Mildred, it was usual with him, the better to exasperate the 
people, and confound episcopacy, especially when the weather 
was hot, to unbutton his doublet in the pulpit, that his breath 
might be longer, and his voice more audible, to rail against the 
king's party, and those about his person, whom he called popish 
counsellors : That this was particularly his manner in Septem- 
ber 1644, when he repeatedly told the people, with every ap- 
parent mark of deep concern, that God was angry with the ar- 
my for not cutting off the delinquents." Dr. Gray, with the 
same malicious design, denominates him a preacher of treason, 
rebellion, and nonsense; in proof whereof he quotes the follow- 
ing passages from Mr Sedgwick's sermons, preached before the 
parliament : " The field, which at this time I am to work upon, 
you see is large — there is much more ground in it than I can 
conveniently break up and sow. I shall, therefore, with God's 
assistance, who is the only breaker up of hearts, proceed with 
the work; and may he, in tender mercy, so accompany, water, 
and prosper his truths at this day, that all our fallow ground 
may be broken up, and then so graciously sown in righteous- 
ness, that we and all the land may soon reap in mercy. Sirs, 
you must break up this ground, otherwise it will break up our 
land. There is nowhere to be found such a God-provoking, a 
God-removing, a church-dissolving, and a kingdom-breaking 
sin as idolatry. Down with it — down with it even to the 
ground. Superstition is the baud to gross idolatry. Be as 
earnest and active, as you possibly can, to send labourers into 
the field — I mean, to furnish the kingdom with a heart-break- 
ing ministry. God hath been the salvation of the parliament, 



OBADIAH SEDGWICK. 595 

in the parliament, and for the parliament; our salvation at 
Edgehill, Reading, and Causon; our salvation at Gloucester, 
at Newbury, Cheshire, and at Pembrokeshire; our salvation in the 
North ; our salvation both from secret treason, and open hostility." 
Such are the proofs this learned doctor has brought forward to 
establish his scurrilous calumny, that Mr Sedgwick was a 
preacher of treason, rebellion, and nonsense; of their validity 
the impartial reader will judge for himself. In 1646 he became 
preacher at St. Paul's, Covent Garden; where he was exceed- 
ingly followed, and his ministerial labours crowned with sin- 
gular success. In 1653 he was appointed one of the triers; and 
the year following, constituted one of the commissioners for 
ejecting improper ministers and school-masters in London. He 
was very zealous in carrying forward the good work of reform- 
atioJi, as it was jeeringly called. He preached frequently be- 
fore parliament; hence Sir John Birkenhead takes occasion to 
asperse him and Stephen Marshall, saying, " It is pleasant to 
observe how finely they play into one another's hands. Mar- 
shall procures the thanks of the House for Sedgwick; and to re- 
pay his pains, Sedgwick procures as much for Marshall — and 
thus they pimp for one another : But, to their great comfort 
be it spoken, their seven years' sermons at Westminster are to 
be sold in Fetter-lane and Pye-corner." Had this facetious 
wit known how many of the puritans' sermons were bought up 
by the episcopal clergy, to enable them to perform their pulpit 
services with some respectability) and had he been willing to 
make use of such knowledge, he might, with much more pro- 
priety, have laughed at the simplicity of the puritans, who la- 
boured, that their enemies might indulge themselves in their 
proverbial indolence; and sowed, that they might reap the ma- 
tured harvest of their laudable industry ! 

Mr Sedgwick, finding at length that his health was greatly 
on the decline, resigned all his preferments, and retired to 
Marlborough, his native place, where he died in the month of 
January 1658, aged fifty-seven years, and his remains were in- 
terred in the chancel of Ogborn, St. Andrew's, near to Marl- 
borough. He left behind him the character of a learned di- 
vine, and an orthodox and admired preacher. 

His works are, 1. Several Sermons on public occasions. — 2. 
Parliamentary Sermons, amongst which are England's Preser- 
vation, an Ark for a Deluge, Haman's Vanity. — 3. Military 
Discipline for a Christian Soldier. — 4. Christ's Counsel to the 
languishing Church of Sardis. — 5. A Speech delivered in Guild- 
hall. — 6. The best and worst Malignants. — 7. The doubting 
Christian resolved. — 8. The humble Sinner resolved; or, Faith 
in Christ the only way for sensible sinners to discover the 



596 MEMOIR OF 

quality, objects, and acts of justifying Faith. — 9. The Fountain 
opened, and the Waters of Life flowing. — 10. The Shepherd of 
Israel, or an Exposition of the xxiii. Psalm. — 11. Anatomy of 
secret Sins. — 12. The bowels of tender mercy sealed in the 
everlasting Covenant. — 13. The parable of the Prodigal. — 14, 
Synopsis of Christianity. — 15. A Catechism. 



SIDRACH SIMPSON, B. D. 
This very peaceable puritan had his education at the uni- 
versity of Cambridge; after which he became curate and lectu- 
rer of St. Margaret's church, Fish Street, London; but his man- 
ner of preaching was by no means satisfactory to archbishop 
Laud, who, in 1635, had him, and several other divines, con- 
vened before him, at his metropolitical visitation, for breach of 
canons. Most of them, however, were dismissed upon their 
promise of submission. The intolerant bigotry and superstition 
of Laud, and his rigid exaction of conformity, obliged many an 
eminent divine to leave the kingdom, among whom were Mr 
(afterwards Dr.) Thomas Goodman, Philip Nye, Jeremiah 
Burroughs, William Bridge, and the subject of this memoir. 
They retired into Holland, where Mr Simpson, on his arrival 
in that country, went to Amsterdam, and observing the good 
order of the English congregation of that place, under the pas- 
toral charge of Mr Bridge, he desired to become a member; and 
having delivered a satisfactory confession of his faith, he was 
admitted into their communion. 

After some time, Mr Simpson observing some things in the 
church which he did not well approve, and having urged, that, 
after sermon on the Lord's day, the people might be permitted 
to express their doubts, and propose questions to the ministers 
for their better instruction and edification; this, with some 
other things, created a misunderstanding between Mr Bridge 
and him; which caused the latter to separate himself from the 
church, and set up another christian society; which, from a 
small beginning, became at last very considerable. 

About the commencement of the civil war Mr Simpson re- 
turned to England, and in the year 1643 was chosen one of 
the assembly of divines; which he regularly attended during 
their sittings. In all their theological debates he carried him- 
self with great candour and moderation. He was one of the 
five, who, in 1643, published and presented to the House of 
Commons an Apologetical Narration in favour of the indepen- 
dents. In 1645 he was appointed one of the committee of ac- 
commodation. In 1647, he united, with his dissenting brethren, 
in presenting to parliament their objections to certain parts of 



SIDRACH SIMPSON. .597 

the presbyterian mode of church government. In 1650 he was 
appointed, by the parliamentary visitors of the university of 
Cambridge, master of Pembroke-hall, in said university, in 
place of Mr Vines, who was ejected for having refused the en- 
gagement. In 1654 he was chosen a member of the committee 
for drawing up a list of the fundamental articles of the christian 
religion for the consideration of the Commons. During the 
same year he was commissioned an assistant in examining and 
approving of public preachers; and in 1655 he had a commis- 
sion from Cromwell, constituting him one of the new visitors of 
the Cambridge university. During the long parliament he ga- 
thered a church and congregation upon the independent plan; 
which assembled in Abchurch, Canon Street, London. 

Mr Simpson was a divine of considerable learning, of great 
piety, and a celebrated preacher. Mr Gray calls him a cele- 
brated preacher of rebellion; which is plain, says he, from the 
following passage in one of his sermons : " Reformation is lia- 
ble to inhuman treacheries. Pharaoh's dealings with the 
Israelites was full of treachery. He gave the people liberty by 
proclamation, bade them go, and when he found them in a situ- 
ation of danger and difficulty, he brought up his army on pur- 
pose to cut them off; and the reforming of our church will, no 
doubt, meet with some such enemies. Rebellion, we should think, 
or the principles of rebellion, is certainly more than all the 
learning of Oxford and Cambridge can discover in this pas- 
sage." Mr Edwards also censures him for publishing his own 
sentiments relative to church government, liberty of conscience, 
and universal toleration. What would these two rigid intoler- 
ants think, were they now to make the tour of Great Britain, 
where they would observe, that liberty of conscience, and uni- 
versal toleration, are become not only the general opinion 
amongst the people, but sanctioned by the legislature, and ac- 
quiesced in, though reluctantly, by the churches established by 
law. 

During his last illness he laboured under some melancholy 
apprehensions; on account of which certain of his friends and 
brethren met at his house in order to assist him with their pray- 
ers. When they took their leave of him, he thanked them for 
their christian affection, and said, " He was now satisfied in his 
own mind, and that the gloom which had hung over his soul 
was wholly removed." He died, the same evening, in the year 
1658. Mr Simpson published several sermons, preached be-* 
fore parliament, one of which is entitled, Reformation's Preser- 
vation. He was also author of some other Pieces. 



598 MEMOIR OF 

WILLIAM SPURSTOWE, D. D. 

This excellent divine was son and heir to William Spur- 
stowe, merchant in London. He received his education in 
Katherine-hall, Cambridge, of which he was some time fellow. 
Having finished his studies at the university, he entered into the 
ministry, and was settled at Hampden in Buckinghamshire. 
When the civil war commenced, Mr Spurstowe held by the 
parliament, and was made chaplain to the regiment of the cele- 
brated John Hampden, in the army of general Essex. In 1643 
he was chosen one of the assembly of divines; which he punc- 
tually attended; and much about this time he became pastor of 
Hackney, in the vicinity of London. He was appointed by the 
assembly one of the committee for settling sequestrated livings. 
He was some time master of Katherine-hall in Cambridge; but 
ejected for refusing the engagement. Wood says, " He was a 
grand presbyterian." He preached some times before parlia- 
ment, by whom he was appointed to accompany their commis- 
sioners to Newport, in the Isle of Wight, to treat with king 
Charles. He was likewise one of the commissioners who at- 
tended at the Savoy conference, and was ejected from Hackney 
by the act of uniformity, 1662; but lived about the same place, 
exercising his talents in private as opportunity allowed him, till 
an advanced age. He died early in 1666, and was buried at 
Hackney. 

Dr. Spurstowe was eminently distinguished for his great 
learning, humility, charity, a cheerful temper, and a pleasant 
conversation. Mr Baxter, in his own life, speaks of him with 
great respect. There were some alms' houses near the church 
of Hackney which were his gift; before which there was a stone 
placed, with the following inscription : " William Spurstowe, 
D. D. vicar of the parish of Hackney, out of his pious intention, 
ordered, by his will, these six alms' houses for the habitation 
and dwelling of six poor widows of the said parish, of good life 
and conversation ; which Henry Spurstowe, Esq. merchant, and 
brother to the said Dr. William Spurstowe, in fulfilment of his 
will, erected and built in the year 1666." 

His works are, 1. England's Pattern and Duty in her monthly 
Fasts; a Sermon from 1 Sam. vii. 6. preached before both 
Houses of Parliament. — 2. England's eminent Judgments for 
abusing God's eminent Mercies; a Sermon preached before the 
p eers . — 3. The Magistrate's Dignity and Duty; a Sermon 
preached before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the city of 
London, October 30th, 1653. — 4. Death and the Grave no bar 
to the Believer's happiness; a funeral Sermon. — 5. The Wells of 
Salvation opened; a small Treatise, wherein the preciousness of 



WILLIAM SPURSTOWE. 599 

the Gospel Promises, and rules for their right application, are 
clearly pointed out. — 6. The Spiritual Chemist, or six decades 
of Divine Meditations on several subjects. — 7. The Wiles of 
Satan; and some other Pieces. He was also one of the authors 
of Smectymnuus. 



EDMUND STAUNTON, D. D. 

This pious and learned minister of the gospel of Christ 
was born at Woburn in Bedfordshire in the year 1600. His 
father, Sir Richard Staunton, had several sons, of whose edu- 
cation he was particularly careful. Edmund was one of the 
youngest, who, when sufficiently instructed in the elementary 
parts of learning, was removed to Corpus Christi college, in the 
university of Oxford. Here his application was close, and his 
proficiency remarkable. Such was the applause his talents and 
industry had procured him, that while yet an under-graduate 
he was chosen a probationer-fellow in that college, before eigh- 
teen of his seniors. When about eighteen years of age he fell 
sick, and was near the point of death before the nature of his 
trouble was discovered; but a skilful physician found he labour- 
ed under a pleuritick disorder, and accordingly prescribed a copi- 
ous bleeding. A surgeon was immediately sent for; but could 
not be found. At last, however, the messenger learned that he 
was regaling himself in a tavern; from whence he brought him 
in such a state of inebriety, that he could not perform his work. 
He struck Mr Staunton's arm twice; but no blood came. In 
this mournful posture the surgeon left his patient, and stagger- 
ed home to bed. When he had slept himself sober he came ear- 
ly next morning, and knocked at the college-gate. On gaining 
admittance, he ran to Staunton's chamber, where finding him 
still alive, he opened a vein, which bled freely; and the patient, 
though half dead, soon recovered, and became quite healthy. 
This part of our narrative adds to the countless catalogue of 
dangers, untimely deaths, and other disasters occasioned by in- 
temperate drinking. While we find, by experience, that all the 
reason possessed by men is barely sufficient to direct their way 
through life, what a pity it is that any, especially public cha- 
racters, should voluntarily transform themselves into idiots or 
madmen by intoxicating draughts of strong liquors. Mr Staun- 
ton was, on another occasion, mercifully prevented from drown- 
ing. Having gone into the water alone to bathe, he inadver- 
tently went beyond his depth; and having no knowledge of 
swimming, he escaped almost by a miracle. A small tuft of 
grass, which he accidently laid hold of, was the means of sav- 
ing his life. These dangers, and the remarkable deliverance he 



600 MEMOIR OF 

experienced, led him to a serious consideration of his state of 
preparation for an invisible world, insomuch that he continued 
about two months under a spirit of bondage, full of fear and in- 
ward trouble; after which he obtained a strong persuasion of 
the love of God to his soul, and was filled with joy and inward 
peace. From this period the study of the holy scriptures was 
his delight; and having determined to devote himself to the 
preaching of the gospel, he entered on the study of divinity. 

When he became master of arts, his father gave him the 
choice of the three learned professions, law, physic, or divinity. 
He made choice of the last, telling his father that he had bent 
his studies a little that way already, as he considered an oppor- 
tunity of turning many to righteousness, the most enviable si- 
tuation on earth; and though the other callings were likely to 
bring more wealth and honour here, this had the promise of the 
greater reward hereafter. His indulgent father offered no op- 
position to his pious design, but rather encouraged it. He first 
preached for about six months on the Sabbath afternoon at Wit- 
ney in Oxfordshire. His labours in this place were so accepta- 
ble to the people, that they flocked from all parts to hear him ; 
which in no small degree offended the incumbent, who used to 
lengthen the time of reading prayers, that Mr Staunton might 
have the shorter time for delivering his sermon, and then left 
the church; but none followed him except the clerk, whom he 
forbade to read the psalms for the congregation. His continu- 
ance at Witney being very uncertain, and still experiencing 
great opposition from the minister of the place, he removed, 
and became minister of Bushey in Hertfordshire. He met with 
a very welcome reception in this place from all who had any 
savour for religion. He preached and catechised on the Lord's 
dav? and at other times, with great diligence and success. Ma- 
ny*, who were not inhabitants of Bushey, also attended his 
ministry from a considerable distance. A very respectable di- 
vine says, " The short time that Edmund Staunton spent in 
Bushey was not without success; many persons in my own 
hearing have acknowledged his ministry to have been the means 
of their conversion. 

About this time he married the daughter of one Mr Scuda- 
more of Watford, by whom he had one daughter. After la- 
bouring about two years at Bushey, Dr. Seaton, of Kingston- 
upon-Thames, wishing to have his living, either made a flaw, or 
finding one in his title, soon dispossessed him. Seaton's attor- 
ney, liking the candour of Mr Staunton, proposed an exchange; 
to which both agreed. Mr Staunton, who always preferred 
work to wages, the more readily acquiesced in this exchange, 
that he was likely to be more extensively useful at Kingston, 



EDMUND STAUNTON. 601 

and to have his opportunities of service increased. Neverthe- 
less, when Dr. Seaton had got possession of Bushey, he would 
not give up Kingston without Mr Staunton's condescending to 
become his curate. Here the doctor's attorney, despising such 
baseness, threatened to find a flaw in his title to Bushey, unless 
lie finished the transaction in an honourable way; so that the 
doctor began to see that honesty, in this affair, was likely to prove 
the best policy. Accordingly, Mr Staunton entered on the 
quiet possession of Kingston, where he continued, faithfully 
discharging the duties of his calling, about twenty years. He 
preached twice on the Lord's day, and carefully examined the 
young, and such as were ignorant, both in public, and from 
house to house, though the town was large and populous. He 
also set up a public lecture, in which a number of eminent di- 
vines officiated in their turn. 

Thus, by his conscientious labours, and exemplary life, ac- 
companied by the divine blessing, a great reformation was ef- 
fected in Kingston, both of the magistrates and people. He was 
beloved by all the devout, and feared by the wicked and per- 
verse, and the good seed then sown sprung up in the place long 
after he was gone. As a preacher, Mr Staunton was very 
plain, warm, and practical. He found, by long experience, 
that a plain method of preaching was the most suitable, and 
most conducive to the end for which preaching had been ap- 
pointed. Even in the college and university he used the same 
plain and simple method of expressing himself. He could have 
very easily appeared in a more flowery and learned strain; but 
he preferred his Master's work, and the advantage of his people, 
to every other consideration. In the application of his ser- 
mons, he pressed the matter home to the hearts of his hearers 
with such energy and vivacity, that he was called the searching 
preacher. Ever careful to distinguish between the precious and 
the vile, he would, in every sermon, say something by way of 
trial and examination, and point out marks by which the true 
christian might be distinguished from the hypocrite and forma- 
list. He often said, " He was afraid of hearing that rebuke 
from Christ another day, Thou wicked and slothful servant," 
and applied himself with all diligence to confirm his people in 
the truth, and arm them against all false doctrine. When he 
visited his friends, if they did not ask him to preach, he used 
to say, " Have you no work here for a preacher." 

After the death of his first wife, he married a second, by 
whom he had many children. Ten of them were buried in 
one grave in the parish church of Kingston; over which he 
laid a beautiful stone, whereupon the following inscription was 
engraved : 

22 4 g 



60& MEMOIR Of 

Here lie the bodies of 
Francis, Richard, Mary, Matthew, Mary, Richard, 
Edmund, Edmund, Sarah, Richard — 
Children 
Whom the Lord graciously gave to 
EDMUND STAUNTON, D. D. 
Late Minister of Kingston-upon-Thames, 
Now President of C. C. C. in Oxford, 
By MARY, his Wife, 
Daughter of Richard Balthrope, Esq. 
Servant to the late Queen Elizabeth. 
Mr Staunton left only one son behind him at his death. — 
In 1635, when the Book of Sports came out, he was suspended, 
like many others, for refusing to read it. He chose rather to 
lose his place than countenance such glaring profanity. Dur- 
ing his suspension, he took his degree of doctor of divinity at 
Oxford, with the design, as he says himself, of honouring his 
sufferings. His exercise on this occasion was greatly applaud- 
ed; but there were several doctors in the university whose fin- 
gers itched to beat him down by disputation, because he was a 
puritan; and being a country minister, they conceived he would 
be an easy conquest. One of these had the hardihood to chal- 
lenge him to the combat; but was so miserably nonplussed by 
Dr. Staunton, that the people hissed him, and called out for a 
candle that the doctor might see his arguments. When the as- 
sembly of divines was called, Dr. Staunton was appointed a 
member, and highly esteemed by that learned body. He was 
several times called upon to preach before the parliament, and 
his sermons were printed by order of the House. He was like- 
wise appointed by parliament one of the six morning lecturers 
in Westminster Abbey. In 1648, when the visitors of the uni- 
versity of Oxford discharged Mr Newlin from the headship of 
Corpus Christi college, Dr. Staunton succeeded him as presi- 
dent. He continued in this office for twelve years, and was 
ejected by king Charles' commissioners in 1660. While occu- 
pying this place in the university, he was indefatigably employ- 
ed in promoting sound learning, and pure and unadulterated 
religion. He encouraged the studious, and reproved the negli- 
gent. He set up a divinity lecture every Lord's day morning 
in the college chapel, for exercising the senior students, and 
initiating them into the ministry. He catechised the juniors 
every Saturday in public, and preached twice every Sabbath, 
beside his constant course in the university church and college 
chapel. One of the impropriations belonging to the college, 
about seven miles distant, having but a small stipend, unfit to 
support a minister, he first went over and preached himself- 



EDMUND STAUNTON. 60S 

and afterwards desired the senior fellows to take it in course; 
to which they readily consented. He had a weekly meeting for 
prayer and conference in his own lodgings, consisting of college 
members and others, wherein he bore a principal part; and he 
constantly attended the public worship in the chapel, morning 
and evening, to observe and reprove such as were remiss. It 
was customary at that time to read a portion of scripture every 
day at dinner in the college-hall; and when any difficult passage 
occurred, he put it upon some one of the fellows, that sat at 
meat with him, to explain it, or did so himself. He was care- 
ful always to introduce such discourse as tended to the instruc- 
tion of those who were present on these occasions. His watch- 
ful care, prudent government, and pious example, were the 
means of greatly promoting religion and learning in his college; 
and many, who were tutored under him, became learned, pious, 
and useful men in their generation. Amongst these, Mr Jo- 
seph Alleine, afterwards minister of the gospel at Taunton, was 
a great comfort to him while he remained in the college, and 
it greatly revived the heart of this good man to hear that he 
proved so eminently pious and useful in the church of God. 

On his ejection from his office of president in 1660, he left 
Oxford, where the precious seed he had sown, and so carefully 
watered, was rising to a hopeful harvest. His departure was 
like that of Paul from Ephesus, or like the parting of the pro- 
phet Elijah from his pupil Eiisha, a parting scene of singular 
sensibility, filled up with prayers, lamentations, and tears. 
Parting with his friends, he removed first to Rickmansworth in 
Hertfordshire, where he was well received, by people of all 
ranks, as a minister of Jesus Christ. He preached round about 
that county, and places adjacent, though an old man, and 
somewhat infirm, willing to spend his strength in the service of 
his adorable Master, till the act of uniformity imposed a gene- 
ral silence on all non-conforming ministers, in August 1692. 
After this, his wife becoming infirm, he took apartments in a 
family at some distance, where he was very useful so long as 
he remained with them, as the knowledge of Christ, and the 
power of the world to come, were deeply impressed on the 
minds of the inmates. From this place he again removed to 
another family near St. Alban's, in which town he was instru- 
mental in correcting some extravagances. He seems to have 
moved about from one place to another, with the view of being 
more extensively useful to the church of Christ. His last re- 
moval of this kind was to a little village in Hertfordshire, called 
Bovingden, rendered famous from his living some time, and 
dying, in it. Here he was offered all accommodations gratis: 
which he accepted: but whatever he saved this way, was ex* 



604 MEMOIR OF 

pended in charity, particularly in the distribution of religious 
books to the poor of that village and neighbourhood. He at- 
tended carefully to the instruction of the family, and here he 
found much comfort in his retirement; which, had he been born 
for himself alone, would have been his choice in passing the 
time of his sojourning through life. But considering himself as a 
member of society, and a member of the church of Christ, he 
reckoned his talents, whatever they were, a part of the public 
property, and was often heard to say, " Woe unto me if I preach 
not the gospel." He accordingly preached to, or instructed, 
the people wherever he could find an opportunity, unwilling 
that his Master, when he came, should find him idle or asleep. 
He often rode to St. Albans, and once or twice in the year to 
London and Kingston ; and when denied a church, he preached 
in a chamber. When he had no opportunity of addressing the 
many, he instructed a few, redeeming the time, because the 
days were evil. From the goodness of his natural temper, he 
was gentle and courteous to all, and his natural disposition, 
embellished by the grace and gentleness of Christ Jesus, made 
him very amiable, and exceedingly edifying in his conversation. 
His government of the college partook more of mildness and 
lenity, than of sharpness and severity; yet none, even of the most 
rigid disciplinarians amongst his predecessors in that office, ever 
kept the college in better order. 

As a christian, he was much given to self-examination, 
anxious to ascertain his evidences for heaven; which, by the 
gracious operations of the Spirit of truth on liis soul, he says, 
he found, if his heart did not deceive him. As a divine, he 
was intimately acquainted with his bible, could readily re- 
fer to almost any passage of scripture, and manifested, by his 
explanations, how well he understood the sense of that sacred 
book. Like Wickliff, his principal study was the oracles of 
God. He carried the New Testament, or the Book of Psalms, 
always about him ; and so greatly delighted was he with the 
word of God, that he made it his meditation both by day and 
night. 

His generosity knew no bounds but the bottom of his purse. 
He drew out his soul to the hungry, and lived in charity with 
all men. While others were racking their judgments how they 
should gather together heaps of gold, Dr. Staunton scattered his 
abroad amongst the poor and needy. When he rode out, he 
used to put what money he could spare in his pocket, that he 
might have wherewith to relieve the necessitous. God had 
given him a competent estate, and he laid it out, in the service 
of the bountiful Giver, with a cheerful heart and a liberal hand. 
As there are the gifts of prayer and of preaching, so doubtless 



EDMUND STAUNTON. 



605 



there is also the gift of conversation ; which Dr. Staunton seems 
to have possessed in an eminent degree. He always endeavour- 
ed to make his discourse profitable to the people, and could, 
with the greatest facility? and without giving the least offence, 
turn their merry and idle talk into what was useful, and their 
worldly discourse to a heavenly conversation. He embraced 
every opportunity of warning the unruly, and instructing the 
ignorant, even those whom others slighted as unworthy of their 
notice on account of their meanness and ignorance. He used 
to say, " That their souls were as precious as the souls of noble- 
men or princes." 

His patience and cheerfulness under affliction were truly re- 
markable. He was never seen out of humour, or heard repin- 
ing, though his trouble was considerable. He was always 
cheerful in company, and on ordinary occasions frequently 
somewhat merry and jocose, especially amongst young people, 
with the view of removing the mistaken idea, that the religion 
of Jesus is a system of gloom and despondency; whereas none 
have so good reason to rejoice, and drink their wine with a 
merry heart, as they whose sacrifices are accepted of God. It 
is said of Macarius, that by his pleasant discourses, on all oc- 
casions, he drew many into the paths of wisdom and godliness. 

Upon the whole, the life of this eminent servant of Christ 
exhibits such a cluster of heavenly graces and manly virtues, 
as court our closest imitation both as men and christians. 
Such were the lives of the primitive christians, and of many 
reformers of latter times: and such examples, in every age of 
the church, have largely contributed to promote piety and 
practical religion, with all their happy consequences, amongst 
men. 

Dr. Staunton was at last seized, on the whole of one side of 
his body, with the dead palsy. This happened on the 8th of 
July 1671; after which his speech failed him, so tbat he spoke 
but little, and very seldom. A friend, who paid him a visit 
about this time, asking him how he did ? he replied in the words 
of the prophet, "In some measure God is debating with me; 
yet he stayeth his rough wind in the day of his east wind." 
Some time after this he said to a friend, " I neither fear death, 
nor desire to live; but I am willing to be at God's disposal." 
On another occasion he expressed that remarkable saying of 
holy Job, " I know that my Redeemer liveth," and then re- 
peated the following lines of the xxxi. Psalm in verse : 

" Into thine hands I do commit 
My sp'rit; for thou art he, 
O thou Jehovah, God of truth, 
Who hast redeemed me." 



606 MEMOIR OF 

So long as he had ability he exhorted all about him to make 
sure of heaven in the time of health; to keep their evidences un- 
blotted; to remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy. He spoke 
with all the solemnity of a dying man, and seemed anxious to 
do good with his expiring breath. He died on the 14th of July 
1671, in the seventy-first year of his age. His remains were 
interred in the parish church of Bovingden, under a fair stone, 
on which was engraved a Latin epitaph, composed by the Rev. 
Dr. Simon Ford. 

" His modesty was such (says Mr Mayo, his biographer), 
that he never judged any thing he wrote worthy of the press. 
He consented, however, to let his Christian Conference be pub- 
lished ; and having also by me a manuscript of his, entitled, A 
Dialogue between a Minister and a Stranger, I thought good 
to print it along with the foresaid treatise. These, with two 
Sermons, published by order of the House of Commons, and a 
funeral Sermon for Mrs Wilkinson, late wife of Dr. Henry 
Wilkinson, principal of Magdalen-hall, with a Latin Poem in 
Britannia Ridiviva, 1660, upon the restoration of Charles II., 
and probably some other Sermons, seem to include all that 
have been published of his writings." 



PETER STERRY, B. D. 

Mr Sterry was born in the county of Surrey, and edu- 
cated in Emanuel college, Cambridge, where he was chosen 
fellow in 1636. Having finished his academical studies at the 
university, he entered into holy orders, and in 1643 was cho- 
sen one of the assembly of divines for the city of London, He 
was afterwards one of Cromwell's chaplains, and procured the 
character of a high-flying mystical divine. He lived till after 
the restoration, and is said to have preached to a conventicle in 
London. It is said, that he and one Sadler were the first who 
had been observed to make a public profession of Platonism in 
the university of Cambridge. 

Mr Sterry seems to have embraced the cause of the parlia- 
ment with enthusiasm, and continued to advocate the same with 
uncommon zeal and firmness. He frequently preached at 
Whitehall, and before the parliament; on which occasions he 
declared his sentiments without the least reserve; but as these 
sentiments seem to have been selected and transcribed for the 
obvious purpose of reproach, we shall give them in the words 
of our author. In his sermon, before the House of Commons, 
in November 26th, 1645, speaking of the discomfiture of the 
king's army, he adds, " What ailed you, ye mighty armies at 
Keinton, Newbury, York, and Naseby, that ye fled, and were 



PETER STERftY. 607 

driven back ? What ailed you, ye strong traitors, ye close con- 
spirators, that ye trembled and fell, till your foundations were 
discovered, before your villanies could take the anticipated ef- 
fect? They saw thee, O Jesus, they saw thee opening in the 
midst of us, so they fled before us. — Worthies, you sit at the 
right hand of the Lord Jesus in this commonwealth, as the 
Lord Jesus sits at the right hand of his Father in that kingdom 
which ruleth over all." We leave the consideration of these 
quotations to the impartial reader without comment. 

Mr Sterry was author of a number of treatises, the titles of 
which have not come in our way. He appears to have been 
deeply tinctured with mysticism. According to Richard Bax- 
ter, he was an intimate of Sir Henry Vane's *, and thought to 
have been of his sentiments in religion. He was so famous for 
obscurity in preaching, that Sir Benjamin Rudyard said, " He 
was too high for this world, and too low for the world to come." 
In 1654 Mr Sterry was appointed one of the triers. It had 
hitherto been reserved for the several presbyteries to examine and 
approve of public preachers, both in town and country; but the 
Protector observing some inconveniences attending that method, 
to prevent all complaints of partiality, thought it advisable not 
to trust the qualifications of candidates for the vacancies in the 
church, all over England, to the presbyterians alone. He there- 
fore contrived a middle path, by joining the several parties to- 
gether, and entrusting the work to certain commissioners of 
each denomination, men of known ability and integrity. This 
was settled by an ordinance of council, March 20th, 1654. 
The commission consisted of thirty-eight individuals, eight or 
nine were laymen, the rest ministers, some of whom were pres- 
byterians, others independents, with two or three baptists. 
Any five were empowered to approve; but no number, under 

* Sir Henry Vane was a piuncipal leader in the House of Commons, and one of 
those singular characters that make their appearance but once in a thousand years. 
It is hard to determine whether he was more the phantastic visionary, or the pro- 
found politician. He did not, like the generality of enthusiasts, supinely repose his 
confidence on heaven, as if he expected every thing from that quarter, but exerted 
himself as if he depended wholly on his own activity. His enthusiasm, in place of 
precipitating him into rash and injudicious measures, only served to add renovated 
vigour to his natural capacity. He mistook his deep penetration, however, for the 
spirit of prophecy, and the light of his genius for divine irradiation. The solemn 
league and covenant was the offspring of his prolific brain ; which teemed with new 
systems both of politics and religion. His genius stood far above the level of man- 
kind, and he spoke like a philosopher on every subject but religion; with regard to 
which he certainly merits a place in the front rank of mystics. He preserved a uni- 
formity of character through life, and died in the expectation of receiving the mar- 
tyr's crown. He was beheaded, June 14th, 1662. — Silvester's Life of Baxter, part i. 
p. 75, 



608 MEMOIR OF 

nine, had authority to reject a candidate as unqualified. In 
case of the death or removal of any commissioner, the vacancy 
was filled up by the Protector and his council, or by the parlia- 
ment, if sitting. Some of the presbyterians, however, declined 
to act for want of better authority, and because they were not 
satisfied with some of the company. 

We are informed by Ludlow, "That when the news of 
Cromwell's death arrived, Mr Sterry stood up, and exhorted 
those about him not to be troubled; for this, said he, is good 
news; because, if Cromwell was of great use to the people of 
God while here amongst us, he will be much more useful now, 
that he is seated at the right hand of Jesus Christ, there to in- 
tercede for us on all occasions ! !" If Ludlow's story be true, 
Mr Sterry must either have been a frenzied fool, or a consum- 
mate flatterer. 

Two Sermons of his, preached before the Commons, have 
been printed, 1. The Spirit's Conviction of Sin opened. — 2. The 
Clouds in which Christ comes. 



RICHARD VINES, A. M. 
This learned and excellent divine was born at Blason in 
Leicestershire, about the year 1600, and had his education at 
Magdalen college, Cambridge, where, having continued for 
some years, and taken his degrees in arts, he displayed great 
quickness of apprehension, and pregnancy of parts. He was 
lively and acute; but never, like many young men of vivacity, 
given to any youthful extravagances. He studied hard, and ac- 
quired a great proficiency in learning; and having run through 
his courses in the university, he was chosen school-master at 
Hinckley, in his own county. On the death of Mr James 
Cranford, which took place some time after this, he was pre- 
sented to the rectory of Weddington in Warwickshire. Here 
his ministrations were attended by many from the neighbour- 
ing parishes, and became a great blessing to that part of the 
country. He also preached to a small parish in the neighbour- 
hood, and upon the death of the incumbent, was presented to 
the living. Mr Vines served both parishes with the utmost 
care and diligence, their profits only amounting to eighty pounds 
per annum. At the earnest request of several friends, he like- 
wise set up a lecture at Nuneaton; to which the people resorted 
in multitudes. Mr Evans, ejected in 1662, who succeeded him 
in his two livings, is said to have found that country-side well 
stocked with religious knowledge and solid christians, the fruit 
arising from the labours of many excellent men, but especially 
his worthy predecessor Mr Vines. 



RICHARD VINES. 609 

On the breaking out of the civil war, Mr Vines was driven 
from his charge, and forced to take shelter in Coventry, a city 
in Warwickshire, about ninety miles north-west from London, 
where he found about thirty other ministers, who, to save 
themselves from the plundering depredations of the royal army, 
and the fury of a misguided populace, had fled to this city of 
refuge. Thus driven from their flocks, and the exercise of their 
ministry, these divines set up a morning lecture; in which Mr 
Vines was frequently engaged, as well as on the Lord's day. 
In 1643 he was appointed one of the assembly of divines, and 
noted for his regular attendance. Here his abilities and mode- 
ration were called into daily exercise, and the good he did in 
the matter of church government may be safely concealed, but 
cannot be expressed without giving offence. In 1644 he was 
appointed one of the assistant divines at the negotiations of 
Uxbridge. The Oxford historian, speaking of Dr. Hammond, 
one of the king's party, says, and that with an uncommon air 
of triumph, " It being his lot to dispute with Richard Vines, a 
presbyterian minister, who attended the commissioners of par- 
liament, he, with the greatest ease and clearness, dispersed all 
the sophisms he could bring up against him." How far this 
statement is correct we are unable to determine, only that 
Whitlocke, a more correct, and far more impartial writer, 
speaking of this treaty, says, " That while Dr. Stewart and Dr. 
Shelden argued very positively, that the government by bishops 
was jure divino, Mr Vines and Mr Henderson argued as posi- 
tively, but more moderately, that the government of the church 
by presbyteries was jure divino." 

Mr Vines was chosen a member of the committee of accom- 
modation, and chairman at their meetings. On the subject of 
a general accommodation of all the religious parties, he wrote 
an excellent letter to Mr Baxter; which discovered his mild and 
accommodating spirit. He was appointed master of Pembroke- 
hall, Cambridge, by the earl of Manchester; and it has been 
generally allowed, that few persons were better qualified for that 
situation. Here, to the utmost of his power, he promoted true 
religion and sound literature, and had restored the college to a 
very flourishing condition by the time he was ejected for re- 
fusing the engagement in 1649. He was one of the committee 
of learned divines appointed by parliament to prepare the Con- 
fession of Faith, also one of the assistant divines appointed to 
treat with the king at the Isle of Wight; on which occasion he 
was much applauded by his own party, particularly for proving 
the sufficiency of presbyterian ordination — shewing that mini- 
sters, ordained by the presbyterian churches in France and the 
Low Countries, were, to all intents and purposes, acknowledged 

22 4h 



610 MEMOIR OF 

by our bishops as lawfully ordained both to preach and admi- 
nister the sacraments. During the treaty he had much conver- 
sation, and some disputation, with the king, who highly valued 
him for his learning and ingenuity. 

When sentence of death had been pronounced against the 
king, Mr Vines, and several of his brethren, presented their 
duty to his majesty, with their humble desires to pray with 
him, and perform other serviceable offices if he would be pleas- 
ed to accept of their service. The king thanked them for their 
kind offers; but declined accepting them. About 1653 Mr 
Vines was chosen one of a committee to draw up the funda- 
mentals to be presented to the House. When he went first up 
to London, he was chosen minister of St. Clement Danes, 
where many persons of quality were his hearers. After some 
time he resigned his place at the solicitation of the earl of Es- 
sex, and removed to Walton in Hertfordshire; but afterwards 
accepted an invitation to Laurence-jewry, London, where his 
excellent talents were still employed in promoting the interest 
of the Redeemer's kingdom. Here multitudes flocked to his 
ministry; by means of which many a wanderer was gathered 
into Christ's sheep-fold. While pastor at Laurence-jewry, he 
was chosen one of the weekly lecturers at St. Michael's, Corn- 
hill, and often called to preach before the parliament. It has 
been, nevertheless, considered by many, that Mr Vines, and 
several of his brethren, preached with too much warmth and 
acrimony against the baptists. On the death of the earl of 
Essex, the parliament appointed a public funeral for that dis- 
tinguished general, who was buried, with great solemnity, in 
St. Peter's church, Westminster, and Mr Vines preached his 
funeral sermon to a very great audience of persons in the 
higher ranks of society # . 

Mr Vines had formerly a strong constitution; but the inces- 
sant labours of a very useful life had so worn it down, that at 
length he became the subject of severe bodily distress. After 
his settlement at Laurence-jewry, his infirmities came on apace. 

* Robert, earl of Essex, the only son of the unfortunate favourite of queen Eliza- 
beth, possessed a liberal portion of his father's popularity. He was a nobleman of 
inflexible honour and upright intentions; and from his humanity, compassionate dis- 
position, and a zealous regard for the essentials of Christianity, he sympathized with, 
and shewed great kindness to, the persecuted puritans. He was one of those few 
noblemen, who, in parliament, dared to attack the encroaching prerogative of the 
crown. It was at the head of an army, however, that the earl appeared to the great- 
est advantage. When he took the command of the parliament's forces, he was consi- 
dered the fittest person in the kingdom for filling that most important office. He was 
a man of invincible fortitude, remarkably foresighted and cautious. Owing, perhaps, 
to the nature of the war, and the raw and undisciplined state of the army, he rather 
waited for, than sought after, opportunities of fighting, and knew better how to gain 
than improve his victory. He acquii'ed a great reputation as a soldier; but his glory 
was soon eclipsed by a race of young men, who, if not his superiors in military skill, 
greatly exceeded him in daring enterprize. He died, September 14th, 1646. — Biog. 
Britan. vol. v. p. 161—168. 



RICHARD VINES. 6l 1 

He was greatly afflicted with a pain in his head, which nearly- 
deprived him of sight; so that he could not see the largest 
print, nor could any glasses help him; yet would he not desist 
from his public labours. The day before his death he preached 
and administered the sacrament. At ten o'clock, the same 
evening, he was taken with a bleeding at the nose, and died 
betwixt two and three the next morning, aged fifty-five years. 
His remains were interred, with great lamentation, in the 
church of Laurence-jewry, February 7th, 1655, when Dr. 
Thomas Jacombe preached his funeral sermon ; wherein he gives 
him the following high character : "He possessed very excel- 
lent parts. He was even taller by the head than most of his 
brethren. He was mighty in the scriptures, and an interpreter 
one amongst a thousand. He was an accomplished scholar, a 
perfect master of the Greek, an excellent philologist, and an 
admirable orator. He was a ready and close disputant, and ap- 
proved himself to the admiration of many at the treaties of Ux- 
bridge and the Isle of Wight. He was a solid, judicious, and 
orthodox divine, mighty in points of controversy. In his spiri- 
tual and powerful ministry he dwelt more especially upon the 
doctrine of justification, debasing man, and exalting the Re- 
deemer. He wished to die praying or preaching. What would 
have made most men keep their beds, did not keep Mr Vines 
out of the pulpit. Possessing an undaunted and heroical spirit, 
like Luther, nothing could deter him from a conscientious dis- 
charge of his duty. He was accounted the very prince of 
preachers, a thorough Calvinist, and a bold honest man, void 
of pride and flattery; and as he preached, so he lived and died." 
Fuller styles him an excellent preacher, and the very champion 
of the assembly; steady to his principles, yet moderate and cha- 
ritable to those who differed from his opinions. Wood says no- 
thing concerning him, only that he was a zealous puritan. 

His works are, 1. A Treatise on the Sacrament. — 2. Christ, 
the Christian's only gain. — 3. God's drawing, and Man's com- 
ing to Christ. — 4. The Saint's nearness to God. — 5. A Funeral 
Sermon for the Earl of Essex. — 6. A Funeral Sermon for Mr 
William Strong. — 7. Caleb's Integrity, preached before the 
Commons, November 30th, 1642. — 8. The posture of David's 
Spirit when he was in a doubtful condition: a Sermon before 
the Commons, 1644. — 9. The Happiness of Israel: a Sermon 
before both Houses, 1645 — and several other Sermons. 



GEORGE WALKER, B. D, 

This very learned and pious puritan divine was born at 
Hawkshead, a market- town of Lancashire, in 1581. Being 



612 MEMOIR OF 

blessed with religious parents, they attended to his instruction, 
and favoured him with a religious education ; of which he en- 
joyed the benefit in his future life. He was educated at St. 
John's college, Cambridge, where, having finished his studies, 
he went to London, and in the year 1614 became rector of St. 
John the Evangelist in Watling Street. Here he continued to 
discharge the duties of his office with great faithfulness, for 
the space of forty years, refusing all other preferments, though 
offered him on several occasions. The gaming of souls to 
Christ was so much the object of his ambition, that church pre- 
ferment gave him little concern. He was a bold opposer of 
popery, and several times engaged in public disputations against 
its errors and superstitions. In the year 1623 he had a public 
dispute with one Smith, an account of which was afterwards 
published by the consent of both parties. He had many en- 
counters with Fisher the famous Jesuit, and several others who 
were accounted the ablest disputants of the Romish persuasion. 
Mr Walker was a divine of sterling piety and strict Sabbata- 
rian principles, and frequently pressed on his hearers the neces- 
sity of an exact observance of the Lord's day. Having, in 
1635, openly avowed his sentiments on this point, and warmly 
recommended the sanctification of that holy day, in opposition 
to a book published by the bishop of Ely, and set forth by pub- 
lic authority, he was convened before archbishop Laud, and re- 
ceived canonical admonition. In 1638 he was prosecuted, and 
severely censured in the star-chamber. Having preached a ser- 
mon in his own church, to prove, " That it is a sin to obey the 
greatest monarch on earth in those things that are opposed to 
the commandments of God," he was committed twelve weeks 
to the custody of a pursuivant, to whom he paid in fees the sum 
of twenty pounds. Upon his prosecution, he was shut up a 
close prisoner in the Gatehouse for ten weeks, and at last com- 
pelled to enter into a bond of a thousand pounds to confine him- 
self in his brother's house at Chiswick, and have his living se- 
questrated. He continued a prisoner for the space of two years, 
and was liberated by the long parliament. In 1641 his case was 
laid before parliament, where it was resolved, " That his com- 
mitment from the council table for preaching a sermon, Octo- 
ber 14th, 1638, and his detainment twelve weeks for the same, 
is against the law and the constitutional liberty of the subject : 
That the prosecution of the said Walker in the star-chamber, 
for preaching said sermon, and his close imprisonment thereup- 
on for ten weeks in the Gatehouse, and the payment of twenty 
pounds fees, is against law and the liberty of the subject : That 
the five passages, marked by the Attorney -general and Sir John 
Banks, contain no crime, nor deserve any censure, nor he any pun- 



GEORGE WALKER. 61 



c< 



ishment for them : That the enforcing the said Walker to enter 
into the bond for one thousand pounds for confinement in his 
brother's house in Chiswick, and his imprisonment there, is 
against law: That the sequestration of the parsonage of the 
said Walker was done without any warrant, and against the 
laws of the land : That Walker ought to be restored to his par- 
sonage, and the whole profits thereof, from the time of the said 
sequestration, and to have reparation for all damages he has 
sustained by these several imprisonments, and his case trans- 
mitted to the lords." Whether Mr Walker received any re- 
paration for damages we have not been able to discover; but 
after his liberation he returned to his benefice and ministrations 
at Watling Street, where he remained unmolested the rest of 
his days. In 1643 he was chosen a member of the assembly of 
divines, where, by his munificent and generous conduct, he 
procured a distinguished reputation. In the year following he 
was appointed one of the committee for examining and approv- 
ing public preachers; and, during the same year, he was one of 
the witnesses against Laud at his trial; where he deposed, that 
the archbishop had endeavoured to introduce arminianism and 
popish superstition into the church of England. Though Wood 
reproaches him for having preached against the king, he hearti- 
ly joined with the rest of his brethren in London in protesting 
against the king's death. He was a member of the first pro- 
vincial assembly in London, and some times chosen moderator. 
He died in 1651, aged seventy years, and was buried in his 
own church in Watling Street. Fuller says, " He was well 
skilled in the oriental languages, and an excellent logician and 
divine. He was a man of a holy life, and a liberal hand, who 
deserved well of Sion college library, and who, by his example 
and persuasion, raised a thousand pounds for the maintenance 
of preaching ministers in his native county." Wood calls him 
a learned man, but a severe puritan. 

His works are, 1. The sum of a Disputation between Mr 
Walker, pastor of St. John the Evangelist, and the Popish Priest 
calling himself Mr Smith, but really Norris. — 2. Fisher's folly 
unfolded, or the Vaunting Jesuit's Challenge answered. — 3. 
Socinianism, in the fundamental point of Justification, disco- 
vered and confuted. — 4. The Doctrine of the Holy Weekly 
Sabbath. — 5. God made visible in all his Works. — 6. Sermons 
preached before Parliament, &c. 

JOHN WALLIS, D. D. 

This celebrated mathematician and divine was born at 
Ashford, a large market-town in the county of Kent, on the 



614 MEMOIR OF 

22d November 1616. His father died when he was only four 
years of age; after which he was wholly under the care of his 
mother, who carefully instructed him in his younger years, both 
by precept and example. In 1 625 there was a great plague in 
London, and many other places in the kingdom, particularly at 
Ashford; on account of which many of the inhabitants deserted 
their habitations. On this trying occasion, young Wallis was 
sent to Leygreen, near Tenterden, a market-town in Kent, 
where, for several years, he was under the tuition of Mr James 
Moffat, a Scotchman, from whom he received the common 
course of grammatical learning, and might have gone to the 
university, only that he was thought too young. Mr Moffat's 
school being broken up, he was sent to Felsted school in Essex, 
where he continued two years, by which time he was well 
grounded in Latin and Greek; and having been accustomed in 
both schools to speak Latin, that language was become familiar 
to him; which proved of great utility afterwards. He had also 
learned so much Hebrew, that by the help of his grammar and 
dictionary he could make progress without a teacher. He al- 
ways pursued his studies with vigour and perseverance, and 
had, by this time, got a little acquaintance with logic, music, 
and the rudiments of the French language; and during the va- 
cation, when he was about a fortnight at home with his mother 
at Ashford, he learned the practical part of common arithmetic 
from a younger brother; which was his first step towards ma- 
thematics, a science in which he greatly delighted, and in which 
he afterwards became eminent. 

In 1632 he was admitted into Emanuel college, Cambridge, 
under the tuition of Mr Anthony Burgess, an excellent tutor, 
where he made great proficiency, and proceeded bachelor of 
arts in 1637, and master 1640. He was always reputed one of 
the best scholars of his rank. About this time he entered into 
the ministry, and was ordained by the bishop of Winchester, 
and became chaplain to Sir Richard Darby at Buttercrum, in 
Yorkshire; from which he removed, in about a year, to the 
family of lady Vere, the widow of lord Horatio Vere; with 
whom he remained about two years, sometimes with the family 
in London, and at other times at her house at Castle Hedingham 
in Essex. After this he was about one year fellow of Queen's 
college, Cambridge; but forming a matrimonial alliance about 
this time, he gave up his fellowship. 

About the year \64<4> he was chosen one of the scribes to the 
assembly of divines. During his attendance on the assembly, 
he was pastor first in Fenchurch Street, and after in Ironmong- 
er-lane, where he continued till his removal to .Oxford; where 
he prosecuted his studies, till he became such a proficient, that 



JOHN WALLIS. 615 

lie was accounted one of the first mathematicians of the age in 
which he lived. He had a most accurate judgment in all ma- 
thematical studies, and succeeded to admiration in the art of 
deciphering intricate writings; a proof of a subtile wit and scru- 
tinizing judgment. He could discover the mind of the writer 
in spite of every method that art could devise to prevent it. 
His own account of the first attempts he made in this business 
is as follows : " About the beginning of our civil war (says he), 
the chaplain of Sir William Waller shewed me, as a curiosity, 
just as we were sitting down to supper at lady Vere's, an inter- 
cepted letter written in cipher, and it was indeed the first thing 
I had ever seen of the kind. He asked me, between jest and 
earnest, if I could make any thing of it, and was surprised 
when I told him perhaps I might. It was about ten o'clock 
when we rose from supper. I immediately retired to my cham- 
ber, and having examined it, found that the number of cha- 
racters were twenty-two or twenty-three; which gave me some 
reason to think it was a new alphabet. On this supposition I 
went to work, and had it deciphered before I went to bed." 
He was often employed afterwards in this difficult work, and 
complained that he was but poorly rewarded. When academi- 
cal studies were greatly interrupted by the war in both the uni- 
versities, the men of eminent learning retired to the metropolis, 
and formed themselves into clubs and assemblies. Mr Wallis 
belonged to one of those which met once a-week to discourse 
on philosophical subjects; and this society was the beginning of 
what was afterwards incorporated under the denomination of 
the Royal Society. In 1649 he became Savilian professor of 
geometry in the university of Oxford, where he passed the rest 
of his days in cultivating those sciences, which, to the honour 
both of himself and his country, he greatly improved. He 
opened his lectures, on the 31st of October, with an inaugural 
speech in Latin; which was printed. On May 31st, 1654, he 
took the degree of doctor of divinity. In 1658 he was chosen 
keeper of the archives of the university. Upon the restora- 
tion of the king, he met with great respect. His majesty en- 
tertained a favourable opinion of him; on which account he was 
not only made one of the chaplains to the king, but had also his 
places in the university confirmed. In 1661 he was appointed 
one of the divines for reviewing the book of Common Prayer. 
He afterwards conformed, and remained a conformist till his 
death. He was one of the first members of the Royal Society. 
Lord Brownker, viscount of Castle-Lyons, Sir Isaac Newton, 
Dr. Barrow, Dr. Wallis, Mr Gregory, and Dr. Halley, with 
other learned men of that day, formed the Royal Society of 
London in the year 1668. Lord Brownker, the first president 



616 MEMOIR OF 

of this society after its incorporation, carried on a philosophical 
correspondence with Dr. Wallis. He also addressed his hypo- 
thesis, on the flux and reflux of the sea, to the celebrated Mr 
Boyle; which was printed in the Philosophical Transactions. 
It is said to have been well known in England at the time, that 
Dr. Wallis could extract the cube root, by a mental process, to 
an hundred places of figures; but that these operations required 
a seclusion of himself from the external impressions of light, 
sound, and muscular motion. Dr. Wallis has attempted to 
prove, that Gezbertus, archbishop of Xtheims, afterwards pope 
Silvester II., had learned the art of arithmetic, as now practis- 
ed in Europe, from the Saracens in Spain, before the year 
1000. 

Such was his acuteness of intellect, and acquaintance with 
science, that he ventured to pronounce the practicability of 
teaching the deaf to speak; which theory he afterwards verified 
in the case of Mr Whalley, a young gentleman of Northamp- 
ton, deaf and dumb from his birth. Having fully succeeded in 
this his first attempt, he made a second essay, equally successful, 
with the son of admiral Popham. He was, moreover, an emi- 
nent divine, and much engaged in defence of the Trinity and 
the christian Sabbath. He possessed a very quick apprehen- 
sion, and a clear judgment, in all matters of religious contro- 
versy, and could readily discriminate between truth and error, 
however disguised in sophistical ambiguities. He departed this 
life, October 28th, 1703, in the eighty-eighth year of his age, 
leaving behind him one son and two daughters. His remains 
were interred in the choir of Mary's church, Oxford, where a 
handsome monument was erected to his memory. With re- 
spect to Dr. Wallis' sermons, which were published, for the 
first time, in 1791, the Monthly Reviewers say, "That he was 
a man of great ability, worth, and celebrity in his day; but that, 
like numbers of highly-deserving individuals, his memory has 
been shamefully neglected. Though Dr. Wallis did not apply 
himself to mathematics as a business till more than forty years 
of age, he had a genius particularly fitted for such studies, and 
soon became pre-eminent in this profession. Next to Sir Isaac 
Newton, he was allowed to be the first mathematician of his 
time. One unequivocal testimony of this is his Commercium 
Epistolicum, occasioned by a challenge given by Mr Fermate, 
a Frenchman, to all the English, Dutch, and French mathema- 
ticians, with the exception of those in Paris, to answer a nu- 
merical question. This Dr. Wallis accomplished with great 
applause, and received, among other commendations, in a letter 
addressed to Sir Kenelm Digby, 'That Holland must now 
yield to England, and Paris to Oxford.' " 



JOHN WALLIS. 617 

Upon the whole, Dr. Wallis must be regarded as a man who 
ranks high in the records of science and literature. He was 
not only an adept in the theology called orthodox, but, what is 
of much more importance, he also appears to have been earnest- 
ly solicitous to advance the best interest of his hearers. We are 
told, more particularly, that he possessed a vigorous constitu- 
tion, a soul, calm, serene, and not easily ruffled or discomposed; 
that he was considered the ornament of Oxford, and an honour 
to his country. 

His writings are numerous, 1. Truth tried, or Animadver- 
sions on Lord Brook's Treatise, called the Nature of Truth. — 
2. Animadversions on Mr Baxter's Book, entitled, Aphorisms 
of Justification, and of the Covenant. — 3. Tractus de Loquela 
Grammaticae. — 4. Grammar of the English tongue, for the use 
of Foreigners. — 5. Elenchus Geometriae Hobbinae. — 6. Due Cor- 
rection to Mr Hobbes, or School Discipline for not saying his 
lessons a-right. — 7. Hobbiani Puncti Dispunctio. — 8. Hobbious 
Heautontimorumenos, addressed to Mr Boyle. — 9. Mathesis 
Universalis. — 10. Commercium Epistolicum de Questionibus 
Mathematices. — 11. He gave an edition of Archimedes' Avena- 
rius and Dimensio Circuli. He published, from the manuscript, 
Claudii Ptolemaei Opus Harmonicum, in Greek, with a Latin 
Version and Notes; to which he afterwards added an Appendix. 
— IS. Theological Discourses, consisting of eight Letters and 
three Sermons, viz. The Life of Faith, God's Sovereignty and 
Justice, The True Treasure. — 13. On Repentance, with Dis- 
courses concerning Melchizedek, Job, and titles of the Psalms. 
— 14. Two Sermons, the Necessity of Regeneration, and the 
Resurrection asserted. — 15. A Defence of the Sabbath. — 16. A 
brief and easy Explanation of the Assembly's Shorter Cate- 
chism; with other Pamphlets, Letters, &c. 

In 1697, the curators of the press at Oxford thought it for 
the honour of the university to collect all his works, which had 
been separately printed, either in English or Latin, and to pub- 
lish them all together in Latin. They were accordingly pub- 
lished at Oxford, in three volumes folio, and dedicated to king 
William. A posthumous volume of thirteen sermons were also 
published by his great-grand-son, in 1791, who had in his pos- 
session some valuable manuscripts, and till lately a rich gold 
medal, which had been presented to Dr. Wallis by the elector 
of Brandenburg, with an honourable inscription, and a chain of 
gold, that produced from the refiner the sum of sixty-two pounds 
five shillings. 

23 4 1 



6lH MEMOIR OT? 

JEREMIAH WHITAKER, A. M. 

This faithful minister of the gospel was born at Wake- 
field in Yorkshire, 1599. He studied at Sidney college, Cam- 
bridge, where he was much esteemed for his modesty and lite- 
rary talents. From a child he was grave and thoughtful; even 
when a boy, he would travel, in company with others, eight or 
ten miles on a Sabbath morning to hear a puritan sermon, and 
join with them in their public devotions. While but a youth, 
he was so impressed with the importance and value of an im- 
mortal soul, and so charmed with the idea of salvation by the 
grace of God and the merits of Christ, that he considered a 
preacher of the gospel the most honourable and pleasant em- 
ployment on earth, and often expressed how much rather he 
would choose to be a preacher of the gospel, than the greatest 
emperor in the universe. Having finished his studies at the 
university, he was settled at Oakham in Rutlandshire, in the ca- 
pacity of school-master; where he continued, some say four, others 
seven, years, during which he became intimate with Mr Wil- 
liam Peachey, an eminent scholar and preacher, whose daughter 
he afterwards married. Having been invited to the pastoral 
charge of Stretton, in the same county, he left Oakham, and 
commenced his favourite work. While at Stretton he was in- 
vited to become the master of one of the colleges; but his heart 
was so bound up in the work of the gospel, that he return- 
ed the following answer : " My heart doth more desire to be 
a constant preacher, than to be master of any college in the 
world." 

Upon the publication of the Book of Sports, Mr Whitaker 
refused to read it; which exposed him, as well as multitudes of 
his brethren, to the persecution of the prelates. In this instance, 
however, he escaped the malice of his enemies much better than 
he had reason to expect. But being afterwards required to con- 
tribute towards the expense of the war against the Scots, he re- 
fused, telling the bishop, or his chancellor, " That he could not, 
with a good conscience, contribute towards the persecution of 
the church of Christ, in whatever nation it might happen to be 
situated." For this honest declaration he would have suffered 
suspension and deprivation, if one of his friends had not paid 
the money. 

Having preached at Stretton thirteen years, he was chosen 
one of the assembly of divines; and being thus necessarily called 
up to London, he was chosen pastor of St. Mary Magdalen 
Bermondsey in Southwark, and one of the morning lecturers 
at Abbey church, Westminster. In 1647 he was appointed a 
member of the first provincial assembly, held at London, of 



JEREMrAH WHITAKER. 6*19 

which he was once the moderator. In the course of the same 
year, hy an order of the House of Lords, he and Dr. Thomas 
Goodwin were appointed to the oversight and examination of 
the assembly's papers, before putting them to the press. In 
1648 he was in danger of being deprived of his lecture at West- 
minster for refusing the engagement; but on account of his 
moderation, and chiefly owing to the universal esteem in which 
he was held by the people, he was suffered to remain unmolest- 
ed. He preached three or four sermons generally every week, 
two at Southwark, his own charge, one at Westminster, one at 
Christ Church; and when he gave up his lecture at Christ 
Church, he undertook another at Stepney. He was engaged in 
two quarterly lectures at Michael's, Cornhill. He preached 
monthly at the morning exercise, besides funeral sermons, and 
at sacramental occasions; add to all this, his other pastoral du- 
ties, and his attending the assembly of divines. In short, he 
never shrunk from any part of the church's service which he 
had it in his power to perform, nor did he serve his Master 
with that which cost him nothing. His sermons, though so nu- 
merous, were neither mean nor empty, but solid and judicious, 
and his delivery commanding, ardent, and impressive. 

Mr Whitaker was of the presbyterian persuasion, and had a 
principal hand in composing the Defence of a Gospel Ministry, 
published by the provincial synod of London in 1654. When 
the storm seemed to increase, and the faithful were in danger 
of suffering much for their fidelity, he was riding one day in com- 
pany with an intimate friend, and, as they passed Tyburn, he stop- 
ped his horse, and contemplating for a moment that scene of mi- 
sery, he exclaimed, " Why, here is indeed a marvellous thing ! 
The multitudes of wicked men, who have perished in this miser- 
able place, sufficiently demonstrate, that the children of dark- 
ness are more valorous in the service of their master than the 
children of light. These men could brave the laws of eternal 
justice, and, in defiance of all the allurements of heaven, and 
the terrors of hell, knowingly sacrifice their lives, their honour, 
the happiness of their neighbours, and hazard the salvation of 
their own souls, all for the paltry gratification of some sordid 
propensity; and shall the servants of Christ be less courageous 
in the cause of their adorable Master, who has pledged his ve- 
racity to reward their fidelity with an immoveable kingdom, 
and an unfading crown. With such delightful prospects before 
us, should not the children of God be ready, on all occasions, 
having a good cause, and a good call, to follow their divine 
Leader wherever he points the way, were it even to mount Cal- 
vary ? But, alas ! how few have the fortitude to appear for 
him in the face of this adulterated generation." 



620 MEMOIR OF 

During the latter part of his life, this amiable divine was sore 
afflicted with the gout and stone; the agonizing torments occa- 
sioned by which, though they often made him groan, and often 
roar out, never drew from him one murmuring expression. He 
manifested such a spirit of resignation to the will of God, and 
patience under the inconceivable severity of his trouble, that 
some considered him designed by God as an example of patience 
to posterity. When his friends asked how he did ? he general- 
ly replied, "The bush is still burning, but not yet consumed; 
and though my pains are above the strength of nature, they are 
not beyond the supports of grace." About two months before 
his death, his pains became exceedingly severe; so that he 
cried unto the Lord, in the anguish of his affliction, " O thou 
Father of mercy, pity me — consider my frame; thou knowest I 
am but dust, do not contend with me for ever. O my God, 
Creator of heaven and earth, help me ! help me ! Consider, 
Lord, that I am thy servant. Pour, Lord, some drops of com- 
fort into these bitter waters. O that the blood of sprinkling 
might mollify these excruciating pains. I am in a fiery furnace, 
Lord, be with me, and bring me out, refined from my corrup- 
tions. O God, I fly to thee, cover me with thy wings till this 
terrible storm pass over me. O my God, break open the prison 
door, and set my poor captive soul at liberty; but enable me to 
wait thy good time — surely no man ever desired more earnest- 
ly to live than I do to die. When, oh ! when shall that blessed 
hour arrive, when I shall neither sin, suffer, nor sorrow any 
more. Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, they rest 
from their labours." As he felt the fits coming upon him, he 
requested his friends to withdraw, that they might not be 
grieved by hearing his groanings. As the time of his departure 
drew near, the paroxysms became more frequent, and more in- 
supportably severe; but the Lord delivered him from them all. 
He died, June 1st, 1654, aged fifty-five years, and was buried 
in Bermondsey church, where vast numbers of people honoured 
his interment with their presence. His funeral sermon was 
preached by Mr Simeon Ashe, and afterwards published, en- 
titled, Living Loves between Christ and Dying Saints. 

After Mr Whitaker's death, his body was opened in the pre- 
sence of several physicians, when both kidneys were found full 
of ulcers, one of them was swoln to an enormous size, and full 
of purulent matter. In the neck of the bladder they found a 
stone about an inch and half long, and an inch broad, which 
weighed about two ounces, and was supposed the occasion of his 
racking pains. He was an excellent preacher, an universal 
scholar, an able disputant, an eminent theologian, and a man of 
unbounded liberality. Mr Leigh says, " He was a pious and 



JEREMIAH WRITAKER. 621 

learned divine, mighty in the scriptures, laborious in his mini- 
try, zealous for the glory of God, of a meek and humble spirit, 
and a surprising instance of patience under a long period of 
extreme pain/' Fuller includes him amongst the learned 
writers of Sidney college, Cambridge. 

His works are, 1. Christ, the Settlement of unsettled Times; 
a Sermon delivered before the Commons. — 2. The Christian's 
Hope Triumphing; a Sermon preached to the Peers. — 3. The 
Danger of Greatness; a Sermon preached before the Lords, 
Commons, and the Assembly of Divines. 



THOMAS WILSON, A. M. 

This heavenly-minded person was born at Catterly in 
Cumberland, in the year 1601, and studied in Christ college, 
Cambridge, where, by his genius and industry, he made great 
proficiency in useful learning. On leaving the university, he 
taught school for some time, and then entered on the work of 
the ministry at Capel, in the county of Surrey. Here, though 
his reward was extremely small, he was not the less careful of 
the spiritual welfare of his flock. He sought not theirs, but 
them, and was greatly beloved by his people. From this place 
he soon removed to Teddington, near Kingston-upon-Thames, 
where he continued several years, and was instrumental in do- 
ing much good. He next accepted a presentation to the living 
of Otham, near Maidstone in Kent. In this place multitudes 
flocked to hear him from Maidstone and its vicinity; so that 
the church was soon found too small to contain his audience. 
His great popularity and usefulness, however, soon awakened 
the envy of some neighbouring ministers, and certain profane 
men; but still holding on his way, the Lord was pleased great- 
ly to bless and prosper his labours. At length he was silenced 
for refusing to read the Book of Sports, and inhibited, by arch- 
bishop Laud's vicar-general, from part of his ministerial exer- 
cises. Soon after this Laud sent for him, and in April 1635 he 
had no less than fourteen charges exhibited against him; to each 
of which he gave his answer, on the 28th of May following — 
wherein he demonstrated, " That the Book of Sports was con- 
trary to the laws of the country, and the canons even of the 
church of England; that it was contrary to scripture; that it 
was contrary to the councils; that it was contrary to the senti- 
ments of all christian divines, ancient or modern; and that it 
was also contrary to common sense and reason." On each of 
these topics he enlarged with great judgment. That the arch- 
bishop had been watching an opportunity to entrap Mr Wilson, 
seems highly probable, from the circumstance, that no sooner 



622 MEMOIR OF 

had the latter acknowledged his refusal to read the Book of 
Sports, than the archbishop replied, " I suspend you for ever, 
till you read it, from both office and benefice." Accordingly, 
he continued suspended for four years; at the expiration of 
which period he was brought into the high commission court, 
by means of the archbishop, and there prosecuted for the same 
crime. In 1639 the Scots having entered England, Laud took 
off Mr Wilson's suspension; but his troubles were not ended 
here. On the 30th of September 1640 he was cited before the 
archbishop's visitors at Feversham, together with other mini- 
sters of Kent, to answer for not reading the prayer against the 
Scots. On their appearance, Mr Edward Bright was first 
called, who had no sooner acknowledged his not having read 
the prayer, than the archdeacon instantly suspended him both 
from office and benefice, without affording him time to mention 
his reasons, or giving him any admonition. Mr Wilson, ob- 
serving his rash method of procedure, and being next called, 
acknowledged that he had not read the prayer against the Scots; 
" because (said he), in the rubric of the Common Prayer, we are 
strictly enjoined to read no prayers in public excepting such as 
are contained in the Book of Common Prayer; and the prayer in 
question is not so contained." This unexpected answer so con- 
founded the archdeacon, that he knew not how to proceed. In the 
meantime, he allowed Mr Wilson fourteen days to consider the 
matter, and then to lodge his answer at Canterbury. The result 
of this affair, however, we have not been able to ascertain. 

About the same time a warrant was granted by the lords of 
council, among whom was Laud and the bishop of London, to 
apprehend Mr Wilson. With this warrant the pursuivant has- 
tened to Otham, where, though he heard Mr Wilson preach, 
and was afterwards in the room with him — Wilson, suspecting 
his appearance, retired, and hid himself, and so escaped the 
snare; to the no small mortification of the pursuivant, who de- 
clared he had been thirty-six years in that service, and never 
was so served before. Mr Wilson having thus happily escaped, 
withdrew from the storm till the meeting of the long parlia- 
ment, who restored him to his living, and ordered him to be in- 
demnified for his loss, and the trouble attending the whole of 
these illegal proceedings. 

In 1643 he was chosen a member of the assembly of divines, 
where he was much esteemed for his meek and peaceable de- 
portment, and his grave and judicious counsels. Having con- 
tinued some time at Otham, he removed to Maidstone, where 
he remained till the day of his death. Here his first care was 
to promote the reformation of the church, and administer the 
sacraments according to his view of the sacred oracles. For 



THOMAS WILSON. 623 

this purpose he preached up the necessity of observing a scrip- 
tural mode of discipline, and the necessary qualifications of 
church members. At first he was considerably opposed in his 
new system; but by his prudence and perseverance, things were 
brought to a favourable issue. 

Mr Wilson was indefatigably laborious. He did the work of 
his divine Master with faithfulness and alacrity, and found his 
reward even in his labours. He was of opinion, that Christ 
makes no difference between an idle and an evil servant, and 
was always careful, that when his Master came, he should not 
find him unemployed. 

Mr Wilson's singular piety was most conspicuous during the 
time of his last illness, and at his death. He endured his ex- 
treme pain with exemplary patience and resignation. He of- 
ten moaned, but never mourned; but cheerfully drank the bit- 
ter cup which his heavenly Father bad put into his hand. 
When he found he was drawing near the end of his journey, he 
called his family around him, and desired his wife not to be 
cast down in sorrow like them that have no hope, but place her 
confidence in God; "for (said he) though we must now part for 
a short time, we shall assuredly meet again, never to be 
separated." He exhorted his children to fear the Lord always, 
to press in at the strait gate, and walk in the narrow way which 
leads to life everlasting. In this way alone you can find plea- 
sure on your march, and songs of triumph at the end of your 
journey. " Beware, I beseech you, that you do not meet me at 
last in an unconverted state." To a pious lady of his acquaint- 
ance, on leaving Maidstone, he pleasantly said, " What will 
you think, Mrs Crisp, if I get the start of you, and be in hea- 
ven before you get to Dover." To those who were mourning 
over him, he said, " I bless God, who has suffered me to live so 
long, and now having finished the work he has allotted me, 
that he is pleased to call me off the field so soon." Thus, hav- 
ing fought the good fight, and finished his course, he died in 
peace, about the latter end of the year 1653, aged fifty-three 
years. He possessed a clear understanding, a ready invention, 
a tenacious memory, and was a hard student, a good scholar, a 
bold reprover, an excellent preacher, and an humble christian. 
He was author of a Sermon preached before the House of Com- 
mons, entitled, Jericho's Downfall; and most probably of some 
others. 



ROBERT BAILLIE, D. D. 

The English parliament having called together an assem- 
bly of divines, on purpose to rectify the disorders, and settle the 



624 MEMOIR OF 

discipline and government of the church, it was thought expe- 
dient to solicit the assistance of some of the Scottish divines in 
that important undertaking. Their request was granted, and 
Messrs Alexander Henderson, Robert Douglas, Samuel Ruther- 
ford, George Gillespie, and Robert Baillie, were appointed, by 
the general assembly of the church of Scotland, as their com- 
missioners to the assembly of divines at Westminster, in the 
year 1643, who, with the exception of Mr Robert Douglas, 
proceeded to Westminster, and took their places in that famous 
assembly. 

Robert Baillie, one of the above commissioners, was born 
at Glasgow in the year 1599. He was descended from the 
Baliols, lords of Galloway. According to Nisbet's Heraldry, 
Baillie of Hoprig was a branch of the Baliol family, who, by 
marrying the daughter of the patriotic Sir William Wallace, 
regent of Scotland, obtained the estate of Lamington. Their 
second son was the first of the House of Carfin ; of which Baillie 
of Jerviston was a branch; and Mr Thomas Baillie, a citizen of 
Glasgow, and father of the subject of our present memoir, was 
son of Baillie of Jerviston, and related to the Gibsons of Durie, 
some of whom have made a distinguished figure in law. Ro- 
bert had his education at the university of Glasgow, where, by 
his uncommon assiduity, and the efforts of a lively genius, he 
made great proficiency in useful learning. Such was his facility 
in acquiring the languages, that he left his fellows far behind 
him, and could speak at least in twelve or thirteen different 
tongues, and write in Latin with a purity and elegance of 
style worthy of the most improved period of Roman elocution. 
After taking his degrees in arts, he turned his thoughts to the 
study of divinity; which he prosecuted with great resolution 
and success. About 1622 he took orders from archbishop Law, 
and became regent of philosophy in the university of Glasgow. 
While in this situation he had charge of the education of lord 
Montgomery, who carried him along with him to Kilwinning; 
to which church Mr Baillie was soon after presented by the earl 
of Eglinton; where he was beloved by his people, lived in cordial 
friendship, and held a literary correspondence with his ordinary, 
the archbishop of Glasgow. In 1633 he had the offer of one of 
the churches of Edinburgh; which he declined from a principle 
of modesty. In the year 1637, when the reformation from pre- 
lacy began, he had many doubts and difficulties to overcome, 
chiefly arising from his tenderness to the king's authority; but 
after much reading, reasoning, and prayer, as he himself in- 
forms us, he cordially embraced the cause, and supported the 
interest of the covenanters. About this time, being requested, 
by the archbishop of Glasgow, to preach a sermon before the 



ROBERT BAILLIE. 625 

general assembly, in recommendation of the Book of Common 
Prayer, and the canon of the church, then lately established in 
Scotland, and published by authority — Mr Baillie declined the 
service, and, in a handsome letter addressed to the archbishop, 
assigned the reasons of his refusal. The letter is dated at Kil- 
winning, August 19th, 1637, and runs as follows; 

"Your lordship's letter, of the 7th instant, I received on the 
13th late, wherein I am desired to preach, the last Wednesday 
of this instant, before the assembly, and to frame my sermon 
so as to unite my hearers in the obedience and practice of the 
Canons and Service-book of our church, published and esta- 
blished by authority. I am much obliged to your lordship's es- 
timation of my poor gifts, and humbly thanh your lordship for 
intending to honour me with so great a service: but, withal, I 
am sorry that my present disposition necessitates me to decline 
the charge. The truth is, I have not as yet studied the matters 
contained in our Canons and Common Prayer; but merely 
taken a slight view of them; by which, for the present, my 
mind is in no way satisfied. Yea, the little pleasure I have in 
these books, and the great aversion manifested against them, 
both by pastors and people, wherever I come, has so grieved 
my heart, that I am scarcely able to preach to my own flock; 
but to preach to another congregation upon these matters, and 
before so famous an auditory, I am utterly unable." 

This spirited refusal served strongly to establish his reputa- 
tion amongst the opposers of prelacy; and being greatly dis- 
tinguished for prudence and solid judgment, with a very peace- 
able and healing disposition, he was much employed afterwards 
in the public and important concerns of the church. In 1838 
he was chosen, and appointed by his own presbytery, to repre- 
sent them in the memorable assembly held at Glasgow, which 
was a prelude to the civil war. Here he conducted himself 
with becoming prudence, and advocated the presbyterian cause 
with great learning and zeal. He was also a member of all the 
succeeding general assemblies, till the year 1653, excepting 
when commissioner to the assembly of divines at Westminster. 
He was appointed one of the chaplains to the Scotch army in 
the years 1639 and 1640, and present during the whole treaty, 
begun at Rippon, and concluded at London. Of his feelings in 
this situation, he himself says, " I never found my mind in a 
better frame than it was, during the whole time, till my face 
was again turned homeward. I had furnished half a dozen of 
good fellows with muskets and pikes, and my boy with a broad 
sword; and to be in the fashion myself, I carried a sword, and 
had a pair of Dutch pistols stuck in my saddle; but for the of- 
fence of no man, unless it were a robber in the way. It was 

23 4 K 



6%6 MEMOIR OF 

our part alone to pray and to preach for the encouragement of 
our countrymen; which I did to the uttermost of my power. 
Every company had a brave new colour waving at the captain's 
tent door, stamped with the Scotch arms, and this motto, in 
gold letters, For Christ's Crown and Covenant. For my part, 
I had taken leave of the world, resolved to die in the service; 
and found the favour of God shining on me, and a meek and 
humble, yet strong and vehement, spirit leading me along." 
During the same year, 1640, he was sent to London by the co- 
venanting lords, to draw up an accusation against archbishop 
Laud, for the innovations he had obtruded upon the church of 
Scotland. While in England, on this occasion, he addressed, 
to the presbytery ff Irvine, a lengthy and regular account of 
public affairs, together with a journal of the proceedings in the 
trial of the earl of Strafford. 

In 1642, soon after his return to Scotland, he was appointed 
joint professor of divinity with Mr David Dickson, in the uni- 
versity of Glasgow. Some time before this he had received 
invitations from each of the other three universities; which he 
modestly declined. He held his professorship till the reforma- 
tion, though the duties of it were interrupted for a considerable 
time while he attended the assembly at Westminster; to which 
he was chosen one of the commissioners, for his great learning 
and approved orthodoxy, in the year 1643. Though he did not 
distinguish himself as a speaker in the assembly, he appears to 
have been a very useful member, and gained great reputation 
by his writings; and when the assembly rose, the English par- 
liament made him a handsome present of silver plate, with an 
inscription, intimating, that it was a token of their respect for 
him, and to be considered as an acknowledgment of his good 
services. It was long carefully preserved in the house of 
Carnbrae, in the county of Lanark, an ancient seat of the 
Baillies. 

Mr Baillie was a confidant of the marquis of Argyle, of the 
earls of Cassils, Lauderdale, and Loudon, of lord Balmarino, 
lord Warriston, sir Archibald Johnston, and others of the chief 
managers among the covenanters. He had thereby an oppor- 
tunity of being correctly informed with respect to the papers, 
and all the important transactions of that troublesome period, 
which he collected and preserved with particular care. He 
was strongly opposed to prelacy, but by no means deficient in 
loyalty. The general assembly of the church had so much con- 
fidence in his attachment to the Stuart family, that they ap- 
pointed him one of their embassy to Charles II. at the Hague, 
after he was proclaimed in Scotland. On that occasion Mr 
Baillie addressed the king in a loyal speech, expressing his joy, 



ROBERT BAILLIE. 62? 

suid that of his brethren, on his accession to the throne of his 
ancestors, and their abhorrence of the murder of his royal fa- 
ther. It would appear, that the presbyterian divines, both at 
home and abroad, were generally agreed on this point. Under 
the government of Cromwell, he joined with the party called 
resolution ers, and wrote several of the papers on that side. He 
had a strong aversion to toleration, and took every opportunity, 
that fell in his way, to testify against it. Mr Gillespie, who 
had been patronized by Cromwell, was removed from the uni- 
versity of Glasgow at the restoration, and Mr Baillie made 
principal by the interest of the earl of Landerdale, with 
whom he was a great favourite. About this time, it is 
said, he had the offer of a bishoprick; which he refused, be- 
cause, as he says himself, " Jesus Christ had no lord bishops 
amongst his disciples." Mr Baillie continued firmly attached 
to the presbyterian mode of church government to the last day 
of his life, as evidently appears from his own letters, particular- 
ly one to Lauderdale on this subject, a little before his death; 
wherein he thus expresses himself: "Having the opportunity of 
this bearer, I tell you my heart is broken with grief, and I find 
the burden of the public so weighty, that it will hasten me to 
my grave. What need you do that disservice to the king, 
which all of you cannot recompense, to grieve the hearts of all 
your godly friends in Scotland, by pulling down all our laws at 
once, which concerned our church since 1633? Was this good 
advice, or will it thrive ? Is it wisdom to bring back upon us 
the Canterburian times, the same designs, the same practices ? 
Will they not bring on the same effects, whatever fools may 
dream?" And, again, in the same letter, he says, "My lord, 
you are the nobleman in all the world I love best, and esteem 
most. I think I may say, I write to you what I please, if you 
have gone with your heart and free will to forsake your cove- 
nant, to countenance the re -introduction of bishops and books, 
and strengthen the king by your advice in these things. I 
think you a prime transgressor, and liable among the first to 
answer for that great sin, &c." Mr Baillie was much opposed 
to the practice of funeral sermons, as appears from one of his 
letters, dated from London, in which, speaking of the death and 
funeral of Mr Pym, he says, " Marshall had a most eloquent 
and pertinent funeral sermon, which we would not go to hear; 
for funeral sermons are some of the things we must have put 
down." He was twice married, first to Lillas Fleming, by 
whom he had several children, and afterwards to the daughter 
of principal Strang, by whom he had one daughter, Margaret, 
who was married to Mr Walkinshaw of Barrowfield. Mr Bail- 
lie having joined the public resolutioners, he became so zealous 



6*28 MEMOIR OF 

in their cause, that the self same nobleman and ministers, whom 
he had formerly praised as the prime instruments, in the hand 
of God, for forwarding the reformation from 1638 to 1649, had 
no sooner declared themselves inimical to the admission of the 
malignants into the bosom of the church, and to places of power 
and trust in the state, than, with unsparing severity, he misre- 
presented their characters, and attempted to diminish the im- 
portance of all their faithful contendings. From a mistaken 
view of this controversy, he charges all the calamities of the 
church, the state, and also those of the army, during Crom- 
well's usurpation, to the account of the remonstrants, because 
they refused to concur with his party, and would not twist their 
consciences into a compliance with measures, which, with their 
hands lifted up to the most high God, they had so lately sworn 
to oppose. The sequel, however, proved the absurdity of the 
charge, and fully demonstrated, that the resolutioners, who for- 
sook the covenant of their God, and, in the mania of their ill- 
directed loyalty, admitted into the bosom of the church 
Charles II., and his faction of irreligious scoffers and malig- 
nants, brought tyranny and persecution, with all their concom- 
itant evils, oppression, plunder, racks, gibbets, and cold-blood- 
ed murders, without even the formalities of trial by law; which, 
till the extirpation of the Stuart family, and the accession of 
king William, rendered Great Britain a scene of suffering, la- 
mentation, and terror. 

Principal Baillie lived, however, to see and deplore a part, 
and only a small part, of the misery the mistaken views of his 
party had occasioned to the church and civil constitution of his 
country. This appears from a letter to his cousin, Mr Strang, 
dated in May 1st, 1662, wherein, after giving some account of 
the west country ministers being called up to Edinburgh, he 
says, " The guise now is, that the bishops will trouble no man, 
but that seditious ministers will be punished by the states; and 
this poor church is now more grievously beset by her enemies 
than ever we have seen her heretofore. This is my daily grief; 
this has occasioned all my present bodily trouble, and will, most 
likely, do me still more harm." Wodrow, in his history of this 
period, says, " I have it from one of Mr Baillie's scholars, who 
was afterwards his successor, and waited on him a few weeks 
before his death, that he died a firm presbyterian, and under a 
rooted aversion to prelacy in this church." Having requested 
Mr Baillie's judgment respecting the courses this church was 
running into, he replied, " Prelacy is now coming in like a land- 
flood. For my part, I have examined that controversy as far 
as I was able, and, after all my inquiry, find it prelacy; and I 
am persuaded that it is inconsistent with scripture, contrary to 



ROBERT BAILLIE. 629 

pure and primitive Christianity, and diametrically opposed to 
the true interest of these lands." During his last illness, when 
visited by the newly made archbishop of Glasgow, he is said to 
have addressed him in these words — " Mr Andrew, I will not 
call you my lord. King Charles would have made me one of 
these lords; but I do not find in the New Testament that Christ 
has any lords in his house." He treated the archbishop, how- 
ever, with -great courtesy. His health forsook him in the spring 
of 1662, and in the month of July, the same year, he departed 
this life, aged sixty-three years. 

The author of the Appendix to Spotswood's History, says, 
" Robert Baillie, professor of divinity, and afterwards princi- 
pal, a learned and modest man, who, though he published some 
very violent writings, yet these flowed more from the instiga- 
tion of others, than his own inclination. He has left behind 
him a great evidence of his diligence and learning in his Opus 
Chronologicum." And the celebrated Mr Wodrow, in his His- 
tory of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland, says, " Mr 
Robert Baillie may be most justly reckoned among the great 
men of these times, and was an honour to his country for his 
profound and universal learning, his exact and solid judgment, 
the vast variety of languages he understood, and his Latin 
style, which might become the Augustine age. But I need not 
enlarge on his character, says he, his own works sufficiently 
praise him." 

His writings are, 1 . A Defence of the Reformation of the 
Church of Scotland, against Mr Maxwell, bishop of Ross. — 2. 
A Parallel or Comparison of the Scottish Service-book to the 
Roman Missal Breviary, &c. — 3. Queries anent the Service- 
book. — 4. The Canterburian Self-conviction. — 5. Antidote to 
Arminianism.— 6. A Treatise on Scottish Episcopacy. — 7. Sa- 
tan, the leader in chief of all who resist the reparation of Zion; 
a Sermon to the House of Commons, February 28th, 1644.^-8. 
A Sermon to the Lords, July 30th, 1645. — 9. A Dissuasive 
against the errors of the times. — 10. Second part of the Dis- 
suasive. — 11. A reply to the modest Inquirer. — 12. Opus His- 
toricum et Chronologicum, folio, with a frontispiece, printed at 
Amsterdam, 1668. — 13. Letters and Journals. The Journals 
contain the History of the General Assembly at Glasgow in 
1638, and those of 1641 and 1643; also an account of the earl 
of Strafford's trial at London. 

GEORGE GILLESPIE. 

Mr Gillespie, the son of John Gillespie, for some time 
minister of Kirkaldy, in the county of Fife, received his educa- 
tion at the university of St. Andrew's, where, by his genius 



630 MEMOIR OF 

and industry, he surpassed most of Lis fellows-students. Some 
years prior to 1638 he was licensed to preach; but in conse- 
quence of the power of the prelatical party, and his own pres- 
byterian predilections, could find no admission into any parish 
church; he therefore became chaplain in the family of the earl 
of Cassils. Before he was twenty-five years of age he wrote 
that elaborate work, entitled, A Dispute against the English 
Popish Ceremonies; which so confounded and enraged the 
bishops, that, in 1637, it was prohibited by proclamation. He 
was also for some time chaplain to viscount Kenmure. In 
1638 Mr Gillespie was ordained minister of Wemyss, and had 
the honour of being the first, who, at that period, was admitted 
by a presbytery, and ordained by the imposition of hands, with- 
out the permission or acknowledgment of the bishops, whose 
power was now greatly on the wane. During this remarkable 
year, he signed the national covenant as minister of Wemyss; 
and, at the eleventh session of the general assembly, which was 
held at Glasgow the same year, he preached a very learned 
and judicious sermon from these words, "The king's heart is 
in the hand of the Lord," &c. The earl of Argyle, who was 
present, conceiving that Mr Gillespie had pressed too close to 
the king's prerogative, gravely admonished the assembly to con- 
sider the delicacy of the subject, and let the prerogative alone. 
Which admonition was taken in good part by all the members, 
and supported in a beautiful speech by the moderator. 

At the general assembly, held at Edinburgh in 1641, a call 
for Mr Gillespie was tabled by the town of Aberdeen; which, 
from his regard to his flock at Wemyss, he was unwilling to ac- 
cept; but, in this instance, the king's commissioner and himself 
pled his cause so effectually, that no translation took place, till 
the general assembly, in 1642, appointed him to be transported 
to the city of Edinburgh, where, it appears, he remained till 
his death, about six years after. He was one of the four com- 
missioners sent by the church of Scotland to the Westminster 
assembly in 1643; and though but a young man, he reasoned 
and conducted himself with all the prudence of age and long 
experience. Equally acute and learned, with a ready and 
charming elocution, no speaker in that assembly expressed him- 
self to better purpose, or was listened to with more attention 
and regard. Nor was he deficient in fortitude, he even dared to 
contend with the famous Shelden and Lightfoot, the redoubted 
champions of the erastian party in the assembly, men truly 
formidable from their extraordinary acquaintance with Jewish 
antiquities and rabbinical learning. Those men having asserted, 
that Jesus Christ had appointed no specific mode of govern- 
ment in his church, but had left it to the management of the civil 



GEORGE GILLESPIE. 631 

magistrate, who is empowered to make, alter, or amend the re- 
gulations of the church, so as it may be found most conducive 
to the peace and prosperity of the community. In support of 
this proposition, they urged the laws and regulations of the 
Jewish church, and asserted, that the civil and ecclesiastical 
laws of the Jews were one and the same thing : That the laws of 
the state were, at the same time, the laws of the church; and that 
the laws of the church were, to all intents and purposes, the 
laws of the state. In opposition to this doctrine, Mr Gillespie 
quoted Deut. xvii. 12. " The man who will do presumptuous- 
ly, and will not hearken unto the priest who standeth to mini- 
ster there before the Lord, or unto the Judge, even that man 
shall die." "Which passage (said Mr Gillespie) evidently 
points out two different courts, the one superior to the other, for 
the obvious purpose of appeal; for it is not said, the man who 
will not hearken to the priest shall suffer death; No — he has his 
appeal to a superior court, where the judge, but not the priest, 
is empowered to pronounce the final sentence of the law." 
Mr Baillie, one of his colleagues in that assembly, who had 
every opportunity of being fully acquainted with his learning 
and abilities, when speaking of the transactions of this assem- 
bly, says, " The many learned debates we have had in twelve 
or thirteen sessions, from nine in the morning till half-past 
one, it were tedious to relate; but none in the assembly took a 
larger share of the discussion, or reasoned more pertinently, 
than Mr Gillespie. He is an excellent youth, my heart blesses 
God in his behalf. When Acts xiv. 23. was brought forward 
in proof of the power of ordination, and when, after much de- 
bating, the question was on the point of being brought to the 
vote, says Mr Baillie, the very learned and acute Mr Gillespie, 
a singular ornament of our church, than whom none speaks to 
better purpose, or with better acceptance, opposed the episcopal 
translation, and shewed the assembly, that the Greek word, by 
them turned into ordination, was, in reality, choosing, and im- 
ported the suffrages of the people in electing their own office- 
bearers. On which a warm debate ensued, which occupied two 
whole sessions, and was terminated at last by an overture of 
Mr Henderson's." On another occasion, the same author says, 
" In our assembly debates we are well assisted by my lord War- 
riston, an occasional commissioner; but by none more than that 
noble youth Mr Gillespie. I admire his gifts, and bless God, 
as for all my colleagues, so for him in particular, as equal in 
these to the first men in the assembly." In a letter to Mr Ro- 
bert Blair, dated March 26th, 1644, the same writer says, 
" Though I have long had an high opinion of Mr Gillespie's 
gifts, yet I confess he has much deceived me. Of a truth, there 



632 MEMOIR OF 

is no man, whose parts, in a public dispute, I so much admire. 
He has studied so accurately all the points that ever yet came 
before the assembly, he has got so ready, so assured, so solid a 
method of public debating, that though there are in the assem- 
bly divers excellent men, yet, in my poor judgment, there is not 
one who speaks more to the point, or with greater propriety, 
than that brave youth has ever done; so that his absence would 
be prejudicial to our whole cause, and unpleasant to all who 
wish it well in this place." 

On one occasion, when both the parliament and assembly were 
met together, and a long, elaborate, and erastian speech, deliver- 
ed by one of the members, to which none seemed ready to reply — 
being urged by the Scottish commissioners, Mr Gillespie repeated 
the substance of the whole discourse, refuting it as he went along, 
to the astonishment of all present. But what was the most sur- 
prising, though it was customary for the members to take notes 
of the speeches delivered in the assembly for the help of their 
memory, and Mr Gillespie seemed to be so employed during 
the delivery of the foresaid discourse, those who sat next him, 
on looking into his note-book, declared they found nothing 
written but these pious ejaculations, "Lord, send light; Lord, 
give assistance; Lord, defend thine own cause," &c. 

After returning from the assembly at Westminster, he was 
much engaged in the public concerns of the church; and having 
been greatly distinguished for learning, prudence, and a strong 
attachment to the cause of truth, he was chosen moderator of 
the general assembly that met at Edinburgh in the year 1648. 
In this assembly several famous acts were ratified in favour of 
the reformation, particularly that regarding the unlawful en- 
gagement against England, entered into by the duke of Hamil- 
ton, and those of the malignant faction. He was also one of 
those divines nominated by this assembly to prosecute the pur- 
poses of the solemn league and covenant with the Westminster 
divines. But soon after this he was seized with sickness, from 
which he never recovered, but died soon after. When on his 
death-bed, Mr Samuel Rutherford wrote him a letter, dated St. 
Andrew's, September 27th, 1648, wherein he says, " I can say 
nothing against this divine dispensation. I hope to follow 
quickly. The heirs of the kingdom, who are not there before 
you, are fast posting after, and none shall take your lodgings 
over your head, or get the possession of your crown. Be not 
heavy, the work of faith is now particularly called for — doing 
was never reckoned in your accounts. Though Christ in you, 
and by you, hath done more than by twenty, nay, an hundred 
grey-haired and godly pastors, believing is now your proper 
employment. Look to that word, Gal. ii. 20. « Nevertheless I 



GEORGE GILLESPIE. 633 

live; yet not I, but Christ that liveth in me.' You must leave 
your wife to a more choice Husband, and your children to a 
better Father; and if you leave any testimony to the Lord's 
work and covenant, against both malignants and sectarians, 
which I suppose may be needful at this time, let it be under 
your own hand, and subscribed before faithful witnesses." 

Mr Gillespie was a staunch defender of presbyter ian church 
government, and the covenanted reformation of the kirk of 
Scotland; in behalf of which, he signalized himself on every oc- 
casion wherein he was called to exercise his talents in her de- 
fence, particularly against prelatical usurpation and erastian su- 
premacy, which he combated with fearless intrepidity while 
living, and left a faithful warning behind him of the sin and 
danger of backsliding, which he perceived to be springing up 
both in church and state. 

In a letter, addressed to the commission of the general as- 
sembly, dated Kirkaldy, September 8th, 1648, and only three 
months before his death, he says, " Although the Lord's hand 
prevents me from attending your meetings, so long as I can 
either speak or write, I dare not conceal my thoughts of any 
sinful and dangerous course in the public proceedings; and hav- 
ing heard of some motions towards a compliance with those who 
have been so deeply engaged in a war, at once destructive to 
religion and the liberty of these kingdoms, I must discharge my 
conscience in testifying against all such compliances. I know, 
and am persuaded, that all the faithful, who testified against 
the late engagement, as contrary to, and destructive of, the co- 
venant, will also testify against all compliance with those who 
have been active in that most sinful and unlawful engagement. 
I am not able to enumerate the evils of such a compliance, they 
are so many; sure I am, it would harden the malignant party, 
wound the hearts of the godly, and do an infinite wrong to those, 
who, from their affection to the cause and covenant of God, 
have appeared for, and befriended them, at the hazard of their 
lives. It would prove a scandal to our brethren in England, 
who, having been strengthened and encouraged by hearing of 
our zeal and integrity in opposing the engagement, would be 
equally scandalized to hear of our compliance with these fiery 
serpents who have stung us so severely heretofore. God justly 
punished us, by making them thorns and scourges, whom we 
had, by a sinful and disgraceful compliance, admitted as friends, 
without any real evidence of their sincerity and repentance. 
Alas ! shall we split twice upon the same rock; yea, run upon 
it, when God has set up a beacon to point out the danger of the 
course ? Shall we be so demented, as to fall back into the self- 
same sin, on which God has engraven his indignation, in large 

23 4 l 



634 memoir or 

letters, in his late judgments ? Alas ! will neither judgments 
nor deliverances make us wise ? And, in the words of Ezra, af- 
ter all this has come upon us for our evil deeds, and our great 
trespasses, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than 
our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such a deliverance as 
this, should we again break thy commandments, and join in 
affinity with the people of these abominations? Wouldst thou 
not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us; so that there 
should be no remnant nor escaping? O happy Scotland, if 
thou canst now improve aright this golden opportunity ! But 
if thou wilt confederate with the ungodly, and join hands with 
the enemies of Christ and his gospel, wrath upon wrath, and 
woe upon woe, shall be your portion from God in the day of his 
just indignation." 

"This testimony of a dying man, who expects shortly to 
stand before the tribunal of Christ, I leave with you, my re- 
verend brethren, being confident, through the Lord, that you 
will be no otherwise minded ; but as men of God, moved by 
godly zeal, you will freely discharge your consciences against 
every thing you see lifting up itself against the kingdom of the 
Lord Jesus. 

In his latter will, he thus expresses himself: 

" Being, through much weakness and sickness, in expectation 
of my last change, I have thought good, by this my latter will, 
under my hand, to declare, first of all, that the prospect of 
death, which is apparently near, does not shake my faith in the 
truths of Christ which I have professed and preached; neither 
have I any doubts, but this so much opposed covenant and re- 
formation of the three kingdoms, is of God, and will be pro- 
ductive of happy consequences. It hath pleased God, who 
chooseth the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, 
and things that are not, to confound the things that are, to 
choose me, the unfittest and the most unworthy amongst many 
thousands, in advancing and promoting that glorious work; 
and now that my labours seem to be terminated, I repent not 
of any forwardness or zeal I have shewn, or exertions I have 
made therein; and dare promise, to as many as will be faithful 
and zealous in the cause of God, that it shall be no grief of 
heart, but matter of consolation and peace to them hereafter, as 
I find it this day. But if there be a compliance wkh malignant 
and ungodly men, then I expect nothing but wrath and indig- 
nation from the Lord, till there be no remedy. O that there 
were such a spirit, at least in our nobility who stand up for the 
truth, that they would take more of the counsel of God, and 
lean less on their own reason and understanding. As for dan- 
gers from the sectaries, I have been, and am still, of the opi- 



GEORGE GILLESPIE. 63o 

nion, that they are to be prevented by all lawful means; but 
that the danger from malignants is much nearer, and exceed- 
ingly more formidable in this kingdom, and at this time. 

"Sic. sub. George Gillespie. 

« Kirkaldy, Sept. Uh, 1648." 
- - " Seeing, to all appearance, the time of my dissolution is 
now very near, notwithstanding that I have in my latter will 
declared my mind upon public affairs, I have thought good to 
add this further testimony : That I consider the malignant par- 
ty, in these kingdoms, the seed of the serpent, whatever they 
may pretend to the contrary — a generation who have not set 
God, nor the laws of God, before them. With them are to be 
ranked, the profane, the scandalous, and heretical; from all 
which I trust the Lord is about to purge his churches. I have 
often, and still do comfort myself, with the hopes that the Lord 
will yet purge this polluted land. Surely, as he hath begun, so 
he will carry on that great work of mercy. I know there will 
always be a hypocritical mixture in the church — tares will grow 
-up with the wheat; but this cannot excuse the conniving at 
gross and scandalous sinners. This purging work, which the 
Lord is about, has been greatly opposed by many, who say, by 
their deeds, we will not be purged nor refined, but will mix 
ourselves with those whom the ministers preach against as the 
malignant enemies of God and his cause. But he that is fil- 
thy, let him be filthy still, and let wisdom be justified of her 
children. I recommend it to all them that fear God, seriously 
to consider, that the holy scriptures clearly shew, 1st, That to 
^id and encourage the enemies of God, or join hands and asso- 
ciate with wicked men, opposers of the truth, are sins highly 
displeasing in his sight. 2d, That this sin ordinarily ensnares 
the people of God into the commission of divers other sins. 3d, 
That it hath been punished by God with grievous judgments. 
And, 4th, That utter destruction is to be apprehended, when a 
people, after having received signal punishments, and merciful 
deliverances, relapse into the same sin. Ezra ix. 13, 14. 

" Upon these, and the like grounds, for my own exoneration, 
that so necessary a truth may not want the testimony of a dy- 
ing witness of Christ, though the unworthiest among thousands, 
and that light may be held forth, and warning given in this 
critical time, I cannot be silent, but must speak by my pen, 
when I cannot by my tongue, yea, even by the pen of another, 
when I cannot now by mine own, seriously, in the name of 
Jesus Christ, exhorting and obtesting all who fear God, and 
make conscience of their ways, to be very tender and circum- 
spect, to watch and pray, that they be not ensnared into that 
great and dangerous sin of conjunction or compliance with ma- 



636 MEMOIR OF 

lignant or profane enemies of the truth, under whatever pru- 
dential considerations it may be varnished; the which, if men 
will conscientiously do, they shall not only have no cause to 
repent, but, to the unspeakable joy and peace of God's people, 
they shall see his work go on, and prosper gloriously. 

" George Gillespie." 



SAMUEL RUTHERFORD. 

This greatly experienced christian, and celebrated divine, 
was born of respectable parents in the parish of Tongueland, 
near Kirkcudbright. He was much admired, in his early life, 
for the brilliancy of his parts, and having taken the course of 
grammatical learning, was sent to the university of Edinburgh ; 
where his proficiency was such, that, in a short time, and while 
he was yet very young, he was elected professor of philosophy 
in that university during the establishment of prelacy. Some 
time after this he was settled in the parish of Anworth, in the 
stewartry of Kirkcudbright, by means of the then viscount Ken- 
mure, and without any acknowledgment of, or engagement to, 
the bishops. Here he was, in the true sense of the expression, 
a burning and a shining light. He laboured with great dili- 
gence and success, usually rising by three o'clock in the morn- 
ing, and spending his whole time in the various duties of the 
ministerial profession. In what year Mr Rutherford was set- 
tled at Anworth we have no certain account, only that a letter 
of his, dated at Anworth, June 6th, 1624, seems to establish the 
fact, that he was inducted before that period. Having publish- 
ed his Exercitationes de Gratia, &c. he was summoned before 
the court of high commission at Edinburgh, in the year 1630, 
to answer for some passages which were understood to be le- 
velled at the bishops; but the weather was so tempestuous, that 
the archbishop durst not venture the passage from Kinghorn; 
and Mr Colvill, one of the judges, having befriended Mr Ru- 
therford, the diet was deserted. About this time he lost his 
first wife, after thirteen months of sore sickness, and was him- 
self so ill of a tertian ague, that, for thirteen weeks together, 
he was scarcely able to preach. In April 1634, he was again 
summoned before the same court, and accused, by the bishop of 
Galloway, of non-conformity; but particularly for preaching 
against the articles of Perth, and writing the forementioned 
book; in which he had so cut up arminianism, that the bishops 
found it convenient to have him silenced. He appeared before 
the court; but declining their jurisdiction as unlawful, and 
themselves as incompetent, and refusing to give the bishops their 
titles, lord Lorn and others befriended him to the utmost ok 



SAMUEL RUTHERFORD. 637 

their power on this occasion. But the bishop of Galloway, whose 
inveterate animosity against Mr Rutherford, and the doctrines 
he had propagated, neither reason nor justice could modify, de- 
clared, that unless he was suffered to perform his duty with less 
opposition, he would immediately write to the king. Accordingly, 
Mr Rutherford was silenced, deprived of his living, and charged 
henceforth to exercise no part of his ministerial calling in Scot- 
land, under pain of rebellion; and commanded, within the space 
of six months, to confine himself to Aberdeen, and its immedi- 
ate neighbourhood, during the king's pleasure. To this injunc- 
tion Mr Rutherford reluctantly yielded, and removed to the 
place of his confinement, where he remained upwards of a year 
and a-half. Thus prevented from being publicly useful in the 
cause of Christ, he carried on an extensive correspondence with 
his religious friends and acquaintances, and many of his admir- 
able letters were dated from this place of his confinement, 
strongly expressive of the consolations of the spirit reserved for 
those who suffer for the sake of righteousness. The bishops 
could deprive him of his living, and remove him from his be- 
loved flock, and his beloved employment; but all their malice 
and ingenuity could not interrupt that soul-solacing and hea- 
venly intercourse he enjoyed with his God and Saviour. He 
delighted in preaching and declaring the grace of God, and the 
way of salvation to sinful and perishing men. His constrained 
silence on the Lord's day was therefore so peculiarly distress- 
ing, that as soon as he understood that the privy council had 
received a declinature against the court of high commission in 
1638, he adventured to return to his flock; where he was re- 
ceived with inexpressible joy, and attended, in his public exer- 
cises, not only by his own parishioners, but also by the princi- 
pal part of the whole district, who considered themselves as a 
part of his pastoral charge. 

At the famous assembly, held at Glasgow in 1638, Mr Ru- 
therford appeared as one of the commissioners from the presby- 
tery of Kirkcudbright; where, having given a satisfactory account 
of all the proceedings against him, with respect to his confine- 
ment, he was appointed one of the select committee for draw- 
ing up their objections to the Service-book, the Book of Ca- 
nons and Ordination, and the court of high commission. This 
was thought necessary, that the world might see that the peti- 
tions and remonstrances against these things had not been with- 
out just cause, and that some monuments of the wickedness 
and oppression of these times might be transmitted to posterity, 
On this occasion, he was also appointed, by the assembly, pro- 
fessor of divinity in the new college of St. Andrew's, and col- 
league to the celebrated Mr Blair, who, about this time, was 



638 MEMOII^QF 

transported thither from the town of Ayr. In this new situa- 
tion, Mr Rutherford, by his indefatigable labours, both in 
teaching the class, and preaching in the congregation, was 
made instrumental in changing this seat of the archbishop, and 
hot-bed of superstition, error, and profanity, into a nursery of 
sound divinity and solid learning; from which the vacancies of 
the church were afterwards occasionally supplied with pastors, 
eminent for their piety, learning, and devotion to the cause of 
truth. 

Mr Rutherford was not a more strenuous advocate for the 
public order and exercises of religion, than for its private du- 
ties and devotions. In 1640 a charge was brought into the as- 
sembly, by Mr Henry Guthrie, minister at Stirling, and after- 
wards bishop of Dunkeld, against private society meetings 
which then abounded in the land. This was the occasion of a 
warm discussion. Mr Henderson had drawn up a paper con- 
cerning the order to be observed in these meetings; which one 
side of the House were anxious to have sanctioned by the as- 
sembly. This Mr Guthrie, and his party, strongly opposed, 
and endeavoured to obtain an act for dismissing all these pri- 
vate meetings. But Mr Rutherford, who was never forward 
to speak in judicatorial assemblies, threw in the following syllo- 
gism, and challenged the whole assembly to answer it : " What 
scripture warrants, no assembly can discharge; but private 
meetings, for the exercise of religion, scripture does warrant, as 
appears from Mai. iii. 16. ' They that feared the Lord, spake 
often one to another ;' and James v. 16. 'Confess your faults 
one to another, and pray one for another;' things which, he ob- 
served, could not be done in the public meetings of the church; 
besides, that the presence and blessing of Christ is promised 
wherever two or three are met together in his name." The 
earl of Seaforth, and others of Guthrie's faction, cast some sar- 
casms on Mr Rutherford; yet his syllogism had such an influ- 
ence on the assembly, that all they could procure was an act 
concerning the order of family- worship; and Mr Rutherford 
afterwards defended the lawfulness, propriety, and usefulness 
of these private religious meetings, in a treatise written for the 
express purpose. 

In 1643 he was appointed one of the committee, for manag- 
ing the negotiations between the general assembly at Edin- 
burgh and the English commissioners; and in the course of 
the same year, he was also appointed one of the four commis- 
sioners sent to the Westminster assembly; where he and his 
brethren displayed their talents and zeal, especially in settling 
a presbyterian church government; and Mr Rutherford took his 
full share of these discussions^ and exhibited much learning, and 



SAMUEL RUTHERFORD. 639 

no small share of acquaintance with rahbinical writings. Dur- 
ing his residence in London, he published his Lex Rex> and 
some other learned works, particularly against the erastians and 
arminians. Mr Baillie, in a letter to Mr Robert Blair, when 
speaking of Mr Rutherford, says, " For the great parts God 
hath given him, and the special acquaintance he hath with the 
question in hand, Mr Samuel is very necessary here at this 
time, especially because of his book, which will not come off the 
press for some time; and when it does, will most likely meet 
with some short affronting reply. Judge ye, therefore, if it be 
not highly necessary that he be here to answer for himself." 

When the principal business of the assembly was over, Mr 
Rutherford, on the 24th October 1647, moved, that it be 
entered in the records, that the assembly had been assisted by 
the commissioners of the church of Scotland all the time they 
had been debating and perfecting the four following things 
mentioned in the solemn league, namely, a directory for wor- 
ship, a uniform confession of faith, a form of church govern- 
ment and discipline, and a public catechism; which having been 
agreed to, he and his colleagues, in about a week after, returned 
to Edinburgh. On leaving the assembly, Mr Herle, then the 
prolocutor, rose, and, in an appropriate speech, thanked the ho- 
nourable and reverend commissioners, in name of the assembly, 
for the assistance they had so liberally contributed to the very 
important labours in which the assembly had been so long and 
so ardently engaged. 

In the general assembly of 1649, it was moved to transport 
Mr Rutherford from the university of St. Andrew's to that of 
Edinburgh; "but this (says Mr Baillie) was thought absurd." 
In this assembly a warm debate took place respecting the elec- 
tion of ministers. Mr David Calderwood peremptorily urged, 
that, according to the second Book of Discipline, the election 
belonged to the presbytery, with power to the major part of the 
people to dissent upon reasons given; which reasons were to be 
judged and determined by the presbytery. Mr Rutherford and 
Mr Wood were equally determined in supporting popular elec- 
tion; while the majority of the assembly were of opinion with 
Mr Gillespie, in his Miscellanies, that the direction belonged to 
the presbytery, the election to the session, and the consent to 
the people. 

Mr Rutherford's reputation for piety, learning, and sound 
theology, was so highly raised, both at home and abroad, by his 
writings against the arminians and Jesuits, which were compos- 
ed in Latin, that, upon the death of the learned Dematius in 
1651, the magistrates of Utrecht in Holland invited him to the 
divinity chair in that university. This very kind and honour- 



640 MEMOIR OF 

able invitation, however, he declined, from considerations of 
pure patriotism. He could not think of deserting his country 
in so critical a period, when, as he elsewhere expresses it, 
" The Lord had covered the whole land with a cloud in his 
anger." 

During the usurpation of Cromwell, Mr Rutherford continu- 
ed to labour, with unabating zeal and activity, in the various 
duties of his pastoral charge, preaching, catechising, visiting 
the sick, and exhorting from house to house; besides teaching 
in the schools, and spending as much time with the students, and 
in fitting young men for the ministry, as if he had no other em- 
ployment; and, after all, writing as much as could be expected 
from one constantly shut up in his study. When the unhappy 
difference took place between those denominated resolutioners 
and protesters in 1650 and 1651, he espoused the cause of the 
protesters, and faithfully warned the people against the sin and 
danger of countenancing these public resolutions, and joined 
with a number of the ministers, in the shires of Perth and 
Fife, in subscribing a testimony for the whole covenanted re- 
formation of the church of Scotland, October 1658. But the 
restoration of Charles II. sadly altered the aspect of public af- 
fairs. The conscientious presbyterians, who stood to their 
covenant engagements, in opposition to the public resolutions, 
became the objects of his bitter animosity, and were the first 
sufferers in the horrid persecution that ensued; and in a short 
time all the honest presbyterians were sent to the furnace, as 
Wodrow expresses it, on purpose to unite their divisions; and 
Mr Rutherford's famous book Lex Rex, which Charles said, 
on seeing it, would scarcely ever be answered; and the Causes 
of God's Wrath, said to have been written by Mr James 
Guthrie, were prohibited by proclamation, and the copies called 
in; with certification, that whoever was found in possession of 
either, after the 15th October 1660, should be accounted ene- 
mies to the king, and punished as such, both in their persons 
and estates; and to save the trouble of refuting them, they were 
both publicly burnt, at the cross of Edinburgh, by the hands of 
the hangman, on the 17th of the same month. Lex Rex was 
also burnt at the gate of the new college of St. Andrew's, where 
the author was professor of divinity. This barbarous policy has 
seldom or never answered the purpose for which it has been prac- 
tised; and few, but tyrants unacquainted with the human heart 
and the true principles of legislation, will hazard an experiment so 
fraught with danger and defeat. Charles II. had the mortifica- 
tion to find, that this, and similar acts of unnecessary cruelty 
and injustice, alienated the hearts of a class of individuals, to 
whose conscientious loyalty he was most of all indebted for his 



SAMUEL RUTHERFORD. 641 

restoration to a crown, which he degraded, and subjects whom 
he deceived, insulted, and persecuted, till, by the unsupportable 
tyranny of his family, the race of the Stuart's had for ever for- 
feited their claim to the government of these lands. 

The parliament, which met the following year, before whom 
he was to be indicted for high treason, had the cruelty, though 
they knew he was dying, to cite him before them at Edinburgh; 
and it has been commonly said, that when the summons came, 
he spake out of his bed, saying, " Tell them I have got a sum- 
mons already to appear before a superior Judge and Jury, 
which I behove to answer first; and before their day come, I 
shall be beyond the bounds of their jurisdiction." On the report 
of the messenger, it was put to the vote in parliament, Whether 
he should be suffered to die in the college ? When it was car- 
ried, put him out, with but a few dissenting voices. Lord Bur- 
leigh said, " You have voted that honest man out of his college, 
but you cannot shut the gates of heaven against him." One 
said, " He would never get there, that hell was too good for 
him." # 

When on his dealh-bed, Mr Rutherford lamented that he had 
been withheld from bearing witness to the work of reformation 
since 1638; and twelve days before his death, he subscribed a 
large and faithful testimony against the sinful courses then 
greatly prevailing in the land. During his last sickness, espe- 
cially when the time of his departure drew near, he uttered 
many savoury expressions in commendation of Christ and his 
honourable service, and of that everlasting salvation and un- 
speakable glory he hath purchased and prepared for all those 
who love his appearance. With regard to his own feelings, and 
glorious anticipations, he often broke out in a kind of seraphic 
rapture. A few days before his death, he said, " I shall sleep 
in Jesus, and be abundantly satisfied with his likeness when I 
awake. My Redeemer liveth, and shall stand on the earth in 
the latter day, and I shall see him as he is — I shall see him 
reign, and all his fair company with him — I shall shine. Mine 
eyes, these very eyes of mine, shall yet behold him in all his 
unspeakable glory? and I shall have my share; I know I shall 
ever be with him; and what could the most ambitious soul 
more desire? This is the end." And stretching forth his 
hands, he repeated, " This indeed is the end of all perfection." 
A little after, he said, " It is no easy matter to be a christian; 
but thanks be to God, he hath given me the victory, and Christ 
is holding out both his arms to receive me. At the beginning 
of my sufferings, I had mine own fears lest I should faint, and 
not be carried honourably through. I laid this before the Lord, 

* Walker's Rem. p. 171. 
23 4 m 



642 MEMOIR OF 

and as sure as ever he spoke to me in his word, his Spirit wit- 
nessed with my spirit, saying, ' Fear not, my grace is sufficient, 
and the outgate shall not be matter of prayer, but of praise/ " 
A person who visited him, speaking concerning his faithfulness 
in the ministry, he cried out, " I disclaim all that ever he made 
me, either will or do in his service, as coming from myself. 
The port I would be in at is redemption through his blood, even 
the forgiveness of sins." In the afternoon of his last day, he 
said, " Oh ! that all my brethren in the public knew what a 
gracious and loving Master I have served, and what peace and 
consolation he has bestowed upon me in this concluding part of 
his service. O for arms to embrace him ! O for a well- 
tuned harp ! I shall live and adore him ! Glory, glory to my 
Creator and Redeemer ! Glory dwells in Emanuel's land !" 
Thus died the famous Samuel Rutherford, in March 1661, the 
day before the act rescissory was passed in parliament. 

Wodrow says concerning him, " That clear shining light, Mr 
Samuel Rutherford, may very justly come in amongst the suf- 
ferers during this session of parliament. He was evidently a 
martyr, both in his own resolution, and also in the determined 
intention of the public functionaries. He is so well known to 
the learned and pious world, that I consider it unnecessary to 
enlarge on his merits. Those who knew him best, were at a 
loss which to admire the most — his sublime genius in the 
school, and peculiar powers of controversial disputation, or his 
familiar condescension in the pulpit, where he was one of the 
most moving and affectionate preachers in his time, or perhaps 
in any age of the church. He seems to have outdone himself, 
as well as every body else, in his admirable and every way sin- 
gular letters, which, though jested upon by profane wits, be- 
cause of some familiar expressions, will be admired and ac- 
knowledged, by all who have any relish of piety, to contain such 
sublime flights of devotion, and to be fraught with such massy 
thoughts, as strongly bespeak a soul closely united to Christ, 
and must needs at once ravish and edify every serious reader. 
In a word, few men have ever run so long in an undeviating 
course of holiness, and unyielding adherence to the laws of 
Christ, or contended more heroically for the faith once delivered 
to the saints." 

His Testimony. — -" Though the Lord stands in no need of a 
testimony from such a worm as I, and although, should the 
whole world be silent, the very stones would cry out; yet is it 
more than debt that I should confess Christ before both men 
and angels. It would afford me unspeakable satisfaction were 
the throne of the Lord Jesus exalted above the clouds, the hea- 
ven of heavens, and on both sides of the sun; and that I, by his 



SAMUEL RUTHERFORD. 643 

grace, might put my seal, poor as it is, to the song of those, 
who, with a loud voice, sing, < Thou art worthy to take the 
book, and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and 
hast redeemed us to God by thy blood;' and blessed were I, 
could I but lay to my ear of faith, and listen to the psalm sung 
by the many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, 
and the elders, and the ten thousand times ten thousand, and 
thousands of thousands, who, with a loud voice, sing, ' Worthy 
is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and 
wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing;' 
and if I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, or under the 
earth, and such as are in the sea (as John heard them), saying, 
f Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be ascribed to 
him who sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb, for ever and 
ever/ I do not, however, mean any such visible reign as the 
millenarians fancy. I believe (Lord help my unbelief) the doc- 
trine of the holy prophets, and the apostles of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, contained in the books of the Old and New Testaments, 
to be the undoubted word of God, a perfect rule of faith, and 
the only way of salvation; and I do acknowledge the sum of 
the christian religion, exhibited in the confessions and cate- 
chisms of the reformed protestant churches, and in the national 
covenant of Scotland, divers times sworn by the king's majes- 
ty, the state, and the church of Scotland, and sealed by the 
testimony and subscriptions of the nobles, barons, gentlemen, 
burgesses, ministers, and commons of all ranks in the land; like- 
wise in the solemn league and covenant of the three kingdoms 
of Scotland, England, and Ireland; from all which I do judge, 
and, in conscience, believe, that no power on earth can absolve 
and liberate the people of God. 

" With respect to the power and purity of doctrine, worship, 
discipline, and government, the church of Scotland had once as 
much of the presence of Christ, as many churches we read of 
since the Lord took his ancient people to be his covenanted 
church. The Lord stirred up our nobles to make an attempt 
at reformation of the church during the last century; which 
they did in the face of many difficulties, and a powerful opposi- 
tion from those in supreme authority. He made bare his holy 
arm, and his right hand got him the victory; the work went on 
gloriously, and the idolatry of Rome, with all her accursed 
masses and ridiculous mummery, were trodden in the dust. A 
hopeful reformation was in some measure settled, and a sound 
confession of faith agreed upon by the lords of the congrega- 
tion. The people of God, at that period, according to the laud- 
able example of the protestants of France and Holland, the re- 
nowned princes of Germany, and other ancient churches, car- 



644 



MEMOIR OF 



ricd on the necessary work by an innocent and defensive war- 
fare; which the Lord was pleased to bless with abundant suc- 
cess. While our land and church were thus contending for the 
faith of the gospel, not only did those in authority continue 
strenuously to oppose the work, but from among ourselves also 
did enemies arise, men of prelatical spirits, who endeavoured to 
sap the foundation, while the court threatened violently to break 
down the walls of God's house; and we ourselves, doating too 
much upon sound parliaments, and lawfully constituted general 
assemblies, fell from our first love into self-seeking and secret 
banding, lost our zeal, and became cold to the oath of God. 

" Our work in public afterwards consisted too much in se- 
questrating estates, fining and imprisoning; while we ought to 
have compassionately mourned over those who stood in opposi- 
tion to our work, and won them with christian tenderness.. In 
our assemblies, we were more bent upon forms, citations, lead- 
ing of witnesses, and suspensions from benefices, than to work 
on their consciences, and persuade them in the meekness and 
gentleness of Christ. The glory and royalty of our princely 
Redeemer and King was obviously trampled down in our as- 
semblies. Whatever way the army, the sword, and the coun- 
tenance of nobles and officers seemed to point, in that way was 
the censures of the church principally directed. It had been 
much better had there been more days of humiliation, and that 
our adjourned commissions, new peremptory summonses, and 
new drawn up processes, had been much less numerous. Had 
the meekness and gentleness of our Master got so much place 
in our hearts, that we might have waited on gainsayers and 
opposing parties, we might have driven gently, like Christ, who 
loves not to overdrive his flock, but carries the lambs in his 
bosom, and gently leads them that are with young. If the 
scripture of the Old and New Testaments be a sufficient rule 
to ascertain what constitutes a christian army, whether offen- 
sive or defensive, whether clean or foul, sinfully mixed or pure 
— then must we leave the question between our public brethren 
and us to be determined by that rule. But the confederacies 
and associations of the people of God, with the idolatrous apos- 
tate Israelites, with the Egyptians and Assyrians, such as that 
of Jehoshaphat with Ahab, and those of Israel and Judah with 
Egypt and Assyria, are often reproved and condemned in the 
scripture. We are not contending for an army of saints free 
of every mixture of ill-affected men — in this world tares grow 
up with the wheat; but inasmuch as the scriptures of truth 
point out and determine what is a right constituted court, 
and what is not, Psal. x. ' What is a right constituted house, 
and what not,' Josh, xxiv. 15. < What is a true church, and 



SAMUEL RUTHERFORD. 64<5 

what is a synagogue of satan,' Rev. ii. s What is a clean camp, 
and what is an unclean' — what a prevaricating absurdity must 
it be for churchmen to counsel and advise, and preach up the 
propriety of confiding the management of the most important 
concerns of Christ's kingdom, to men who have shown, and 
still show themselves enemies to the cause of the reformation, 
men who have acted, and still act, contrary to the word of God, 
the declarations, remonstrances, solemn warnings, and serious 
exhortations of his church ! whose public protestations the Lord 
did so admirably bless, to the encouragement of the godly, and 
the terror of all the opposers of that blessed work. 

" Since we are very shortly to appear before our dread 
Master and Sovereign Lord, we cannot pass from our protesta- 
tion, trusting we are therein accepted of him, although we 
should be considered of schismatical spirits, and unpeaceable 
mien. To the king's majesty we acknowledge all due obedience 
in the Lord; but that ecclesiastical supremacy, in and over the 
church, which some ascribe to him, we must and do condemn : 
That power of commanding external worship, not appointed 
nor tolerated in the word, and that binding of mens' conscien- 
ces, where Christ has made them free, we most solemnly op- 
pose, and leave our testimony against all infractions made or 
meditated against the prerogatives of the King of kings, and 
head of his spiritual body the church. We disown antichristian 
prelacy, bowing at the name of Jesus, saints' days, canonising 
of the dead, and all such corrupt inventions of men, and consi- 
der them as opening a passage back to that idolatrous worship, 
from the thraldom of which God in his great goodness afore- 
time had delivered these lands. Alas ! there is no need of the 
spirit of prophecy to declare what shall be the lamentable con- 
sequences of breaking our covenant, first practically, and then 
legally, confirmed with the Lord our God; and what shall be 
the day of scrutinizing visitation to all the negligent shepherds, 
and silent and un warning watchmen, placed on the towers of 
Scotland ? Where shall they leave their glory ? And what if 
Christ should depart from our coast ? 

" We are verily persuaded, that they are the most loyal to 
the king's majesty, who sincerely desire, and strenuously en- 
deavour, to separate the dross from the silver, and establish the 
throne in righteousness and judgment. We are not (our wit- 
ness is in heaven) against his majesty's title by birth to the 
kingdom, and the rights of the royal family, but that the con- 
troversy of wrath against the royal family may be removed, that 
the enormous load of guilt that presses down the throne may 
be mourned over before the Lord, and that his majesty may 
stand sted lastly, all the days of his life, to the covenant of God> 



646 MEMOIR OF 

and his subjects, by oath, seal, and subscription, solemnly ma- 
nifested to the world; so that peace, and the blessings of ap- 
proving heaven, may attend his government; that the Lord may 
be his rock, shield, and supporter; that the just may flourish in 
his time; that men, fearing God, and hating covetousness, men 
of known integrity and godliness, may be judges and rulers un- 
der his majesty; and we believe, and are equally persuaded, that 
those who desire not, but oppose the propriety and use of such 
qualifications in the supreme magistrate, are neither friends to 
their country, nor loyal and faithful subjects to their prince. 
We are not in this particular contending, that a prince, who is 
not a convert, or a sound believer of the gospel, forfeits his title 
and claim to his kingly dominion on that account. The word 
of God warrants us to pray for, and obey princes and supreme 
magistrates, in the Lord, who are otherwise, and render them 
all due obedience in the Lord, Rom. xiii. 2, 5. 2 Tim. ii. 12. 
1 Pet. ii. 18. The burning of ( The causes of God's wrath too, 
like the burning of the roll by Jehudi,' Jer. xxxvi. 22. was a 
lamentable and God-provoking transaction, for which our souls 
should be afflicted before the Lord. In all these controversies 
we ought particularly to consider, that Christ is a free, inde- 
pendent, and Sovereign King and lawgiver. The Father hath 
appointed him his own King in mount Zion; and he will not, 
and he cannot endure, that the powers of the world should en- 
croach upon his royal prerogatives, and prescribe laws for the 
government of his own house — a presumption of equal audacity 
with that of the citizens mentioned in Luke xix. 14. who hated 
him, and said, ' This man shall not reign over us;' and of 
those, who, in Psalm ii. 3. are for i breaking asunder his bands, 
and casting away his cords.' But this audacious presumption 
of the rulers of this world is aggravated above measure, from 
the consideration, that the man Christ has left the power of the 
civil magistrate free from all encroachments from the church, 
and not only refused to take upon himself the function of a 
Judge, Luke xii. 14. but discharged his disciples from exercis- 
ing a civil lordship over their brethren. True it is, the godly 
magistrate may command the ministers of the gospel to do their 
duty, but not under the pain of ecclesiastical censure, as if he 
had the power of calling and uncalling, deposing and suspend- 
ing, from the exercise of the holy ministry. The lordly spirit- 
ual government, in and over the church, is given to Christ, and 
to none beside. He, and he alone, is, was, and shall be the 
ecclesiastic lawgiver. It only belongs to him to smite with the 
rod of his mouth; nor is there another shoulder in earth or hea- 
ven able to bear up the weight of the government. As this 
hath been the great controversy between our Lord Jesus and 



SAMUEL RUTHERFORD. 647 

the powers of this world from the beginning, so it has been the 
ruin of all who have attempted to oppose him. They have been 
greatly offended with Christ; but he has proved a rock of of- 
fence, against which they have dashed themselves to pieces; 
and all those, who may yet enter the lists with him, will assur- 
edly find, that the stone, cut from the mountain without hands, 
will grind them to powder : That Christ is the only head of his 
own church, is as sure as that of his death, burial, and resur- 
rection. Not only was this great truth greatly contended for 
by the ancient prophets, and the apostles of Christ, against the 
powers of this world, but the victorious and prevailing fact has 
been preached and attested by his ambassadors, in every age of 
the church, and attested by the blood and sufferings of innum- 
erable precious saints, who accounted it an honour to suffer 
persecution, indignity, derision, and death, for the name of Je- 
sus; and blessed are the souls who love not their lives unto 
death, for on such rests the spirit of glory and of God. 

" The present is a sad and serious time to our church and 
land. It is a day of darkness, and rebuke, and blasphemy. 
The Lord hath covered himself with a cloud in his anger. We 
looked for peace, but behold evil. When his majesty had sworn, 
and affixed his seal and subscription to the covenant of God, 
the hearts of his subjects blessed the Lord, and rested with con- 
fidence on the healing word of a prince; but now, alas! that 
solemn oath has been broken, and the violation sanctioned by a 
contrary law. The carved work has been broken down, ordi- 
nances are defaced, and we are again brought into the bondage 
and chaos of prelatical power and superstition. The royal pre- 
rogative of Christ, his mediatorial crown, is pulled from his 
head; and after all the days of sorrow we have seen, we have 
every reason to fear that we shall yet be made to read, yea, to 
eat, that roll, wherein is written, mourning, lamentation, and 
woe. But notwithstanding all the evils under which the 
church of Christ in these lands is now pressed down, or has 
reason to apprehend, we are not called to mourn like them that 
have no hope. We believe that Christ will not so depart, but 
that a remnant shall be saved, and that he shall reign for ever, 
and, in spite of all the powers of the world, and the malice of 
hell, victoriously conquer to the ends of the earth. Oh ! that the 
nations, kindreds, tongues, and all the people of Christ's habi- 
table world, were encompassing his throne, with cries and tears, 
for the Spirit of supplication to this effect. 

" Sic sub. Samuel Rutherford. 

"February 28^, 1661." 



648 MEMOIR OF 

ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 

If men of talent, integrity, and fortitude, who have sacri- 
ficed their ease and their interest in defending the rights, and 
promoting the safety and happiness of society, have any claim 
to the gratitude and honourable remembrance of their country- 
men, the subject of the following memoir must come in for an 
uncommon share. Amongst the distinguished characters, 
whose learning and abilities the religious controversies of the 
seventeenth century called into exercise, Alexander Henderson, 
one of the ministers of the city of Edinburgh, acted a most 
conspicuous part. He was born about the year 1583. Of his 
parents, and other circumstances connected with the early part 
of his life, no satisfactory information has reached us. With 
a view to the church, he was sent to the university of St. An- 
drew's, to finish his education, about the beginning of the 
seventeenth century; where, having gone through his courses of 
learning, and passed his degrees with applause, he was chosen 
teacher of a class of philosophy and rhetoric in that ancient se- 
minary, some short time before the year 1611, as appears from 
his name being affixed to a letter of thanks to the king of that 
date. 

The church of Scotland, about this time, was in a most de- 
plorable condition. The liberty of her assemblies no longer ex- 
isted. The king claimed an absolute power in all church mat- 
ters, and changed, by his proclamations, both the time and 
place of their meetings, as it suited his caprice, interest, or in- 
clination. No bishop, no king, was now the word; for his ma- 
jesty had got into his head, that the presbyterian equality 
among the ministers of the church, could by no means corre- 
spond with a monarchy in the state, and that nothing but a 
batch of bishops could give a firm establishment to the three 
estates in parliament. Full of this chimerical notion, he at- 
tempted, both by deceit and violence, to favour his beloved sub- 
jects in Scotland with the splendid hierarchy of the church of 
England; and the crafty prelates, catching at preferment, base- 
ly flattered him therein. So that prelacy, with all its numerous 
train of ceremonies and superstitions, was audaciously obtruded 
on the church of Scotland, notwithstanding that of late she had 
most deliberately and very solemnly relinquished, and for ever 
cast off, that unsufferable yoke. The better to support these ty- 
rannical and obtrusive measures directed against the presbyte- 
rian government of the church of Scotland, her ablest ministers, 
and most faithful watchmen, were shamefully and most unjust- 
ly silenced, imprisoned, and either banished the king's domi- 
nions, under the pain of death, or driven into remote corners of 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 649 

the land, where they had no opportunity of opposing these ty- 
rannical measures of the king and his corrupt court. Even at 
the time of the king's departure to England, that courageous 
opposer of prelacy, Mr Robert Bruce, was suspended from 
preaching, and afterwards shut up in Inverness for four years. 
Mr Andrew Melvill and Mr John Davidson were also detain- 
ed in confinement at the king's removal, though the prison 
doors were thrown open, as he proceeded on his journey, to a 
very different description of prisoners. The Scotch universities, 
and other seminaries, were greatly corrupted, at this time, by 
the casting out of sound teachers, and filling their places with 
corrupt and time-serving men, who encouraged the measures of 
the court. Hence the youth, placed under the tuition of these 
court parasites, by imbibing the heterodox poison which they had 
industriously cast into the fountain, rapidly disseminated it 
through the whole land. 

In this state of confusion and dismal anticipation, Mr Hen- 
derson, being then a young man of surprising abilities, and am- 
bitious of preferment, adopted the principles, and advocated the 
measures of the court and prelatical party in the church; and 
shortly after, through the patronage of archbishop Gladstanes, 
he was presented to the parish of Leuchars in the shire of Fife. 
His settlement, in this place, however, was peculiarly unpopu- 
lar. On the day of his ordination, the opposition of the people 
was such, that they so firmly secured the church doors, that the 
ministers who attended, together with the presentee, were 
obliged to break in by the window. Mr Henderson was well 
known for a defender of those corruptions to which the body 
of the Scottish nation were exceedingly averse; but what aug- 
mented the evil, and rendered his ministry, if possible, more 
exceedingly unpopular, was the little or no regard he discover- 
ed for the instruction and edification of the flock on whom he 
had been so wantonly obtruded. It was not long, however, 
till his religious sentiments and character underwent a change, 
which happily influenced the whole of his future life. The oc- 
casion was this, Mr Bruce, who had been banished to Inver- 
ness, having obtained liberty to return from the place of his 
confinement, improved every opportunity that offered itself in 
preaching the gospel, and multitudes flocked to his ministry. 
Mr Henderson, hearing of a communion in the neighbourhood 
where Mr Bruce was expected to assist, went secretly, and 
took his seat in a dark corner of the church where he might 
not be readily observed. Mr Bruce entered the pulpit, and, 
after a solemn pause, in his usual manner read his text with 
his accustomed emphasis and deliberation, " Verily, verily, I 
say unto you, he that entereth not in by the door, but climbeth 

24 4 n 



650 MEMOIR Of 

up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber;" words 
highly descriptive of an intruder, and so literally analogous to 
the mode by which Mr Henderson entered on his pastoral of- 
fice at Leuchars, that it went like a dagger to his conscience, 
and left an impression on his heart, which issued in his conver- 
sion to God; and ever after he had a strong affection for Mr 
Bruce, whom he considered his spiritual father, and often spoke 
of him in terms of the highest respect. It was not long till the 
change, which had been wrought on his mind, discovered itself 
in a very different manner of ministerial conduct. He now be- 
came zealous in the cause of his divine Master, and peculiarly 
active in promoting the spiritual interest and welfare of bis 
flock, by all means endeavouring to remove the offence that his 
irregular settlement had occasioned amongst them. Upon this 
interesting subject, let us take his own words when addressing 
his brethren, from the moderator's chair, at the famous assem- 
bly at Glasgow many years after. W There are divers amongst 
us (says he), who have had no such warrant for entering on the 
work of the ministry as the laws of Christ prescribe. Alas ! 
how many of us have rather sought the kirk, than been sought by 
the kirk ? How many have rather had the kirk given to them, 
than been given to the kirk for her edification ? And yet there 
must be an obvious difference between those who have lived 
and officiated for many years without any warrant from God, 
and those, who, in some respects, have entered unlawfully into 
the pastoral charge, and having afterwards discovered their er- 
ror, done what in them lay to repair the injury. The one 
is like a marriage altogether unlawful, and consequently null 
in itself; the other is like a marriage in some respects unlawful 
and inexpedient; which, nevertheless, may be mended and im- 
proved by the diligence and fidelity of the parties, in afterwards 
conscientiously discharging their reciprocal duties. Just so 
should it be with us, who have lately entered into the work of 
the ministry. If there were any faults or wrong steps in our 
entry, as who amongst us are altogether free in this respect, 
let us consider, that the Lord has called us, if we have since 
got a seal from heaven, and let our former improprieties induce 
us to double our diligence, zeal, and integrity, in the work of 
the gospel." 

Mr Henderson began to see the object of the prevailing par- 
ty, and the measures by them adopted for obtaining that object, 
in a very different light than he had formerly done through 
the false medium of ambition and worldly aggrandisement. By 
a deliberate and minute investigation of the scriptures, and the 
writings of the ancients, he was fully satisfied, that prelacy, . 
such as it is in the church of England, has no foundation in the 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 651 

word of God : That presbytery was more conformable to the 
sacred oracles and the practice of the primitive church, and 
much more favourable to piety and christian liberty, than that 
prelatical system which had been imposed on the Scottish people. 
From this time forward Mr Henderson became an active opposer 
of the innovations of the court, and of those despotic measures bv 
which they endeavoured to supercede the presbyterian religion in 
Scotland. His rare abilities pointed him out as a proper person 
for taking a leading part in the public concerns of the church 
during that critical period; which, at the earnest solicitations of 
the party, he undertook, and by his undaunted courage, and 
dexterity in argument, his peculiar skill and activity in manag- 
ing the most difficult and delicate affairs, procured for himself 
a distinguished reputation, and, to the end of his days, retained 
the confidence, and merited the unqualified approbation of his 
own party, while he commanded the respect even of his 
enemies. 

From the moment that prelacy was first obtruded on the 
church of Scotland, a plan had been in operation for changing 
also the presbyterian mode of worship, and bringing all to the 
standard of the church of England. In the prosecution of this 
plan, after a number of preparatory steps had been tried, an 
assembly was suddenly convened at Perth, with the view of 
taking the presbyterians by surprise. Above thirty noblemen 
and gentlemen, friendly to the king's measures, were invited, 
by letters from his majesty, to attend this assembly, where, by 
the most shameful and barefaced partiality, the following arti- 
cles were carried, after a strenuous opposition, and much argu- 
ment from the faithful adherents to the good old principles of 
the Scotch church, amongst whom Mr Henderson held a con- 
spicuous place. These Articles, commonly known by the five 
Articles of Perth, are, 1st, Kneeling at the sacrament of the 
Lord's supper. 2d, The celebration of five holidays, namely, 
the nativity, passion, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord, 
and the descent of the holy Spirit. 3d, Private baptism. 4th, 
The private administration of the Lord's supper. 5th, Episco- 
pal confirmation. 

In August 1619, Mr Henderson, and two other ministers, 
were called before the court of high commission at St. An- 
drew's, charged with composing and publishing a book, entitled, 
Perth Assembly, proving the nullity of all their decisions, and 
with raising a subscription to defray the expenses of said pub- 
lication. They accordingly made their appearance, and are 
said to have answered for themselves with so much wisdom, 
that the bishops could obtain no advantage against them, but 
very reluctantly dismissed them with severe threatenings, 



65% MEMOIR OF 

From this period, tilt the year 1637, he does not appear to have 
suffered much, though strictly watched, and considerably 
cramped in his exertions to promote the cause of truth. The 
time thus spent in retirement, however, was not the least use- 
ful or happy period of his life. Sequestered in a great measure 
from the busy world, he improved his leisure hours in pushing 
his researches into the open and extensive field of theological 
controversy, in treasuring up those stores of knowledge, and 
sharpening those weapons of controversial warfare, which he 
was* afterwards called upon to wield in defence of the truth. 
In the meantime, the conscientious discharge of his pastoral 
duties afforded him regular employment, and his success therein 
rewarded him with the purest gratifications. He had, besides, 
frequent opportunities at fasts, and sacramental occasions, of 
meeting with his brethren of the same sentiments, where, by 
their sermons and conferences, they stirred up and encouraged 
one another in adhering to the persecuted cause of Christ, and 
united in their prayers to God for deliverance from the evils 
under which they were pressed down. Mr Livingston informs 
us, " That in attending these solemn occasions, he had become 
acquainted with Mr Henderson, between the years 1626 and 
1630, and that his memory was precious and refreshing. Mr 
Henderson was indefatigable in his labours for the promotion 
of truth and rectitude of conduct, while his own life and conver- 
sation corresponded with the doctrines he taught; yet, in spite 
of his superior talents, and the purity of his motives, he was 
often calumniated, and most maliciously misrepresented." 
Bishop Guthrie affirms, " That the tumult which took place at 
Edinburgh, on the first reading of the Liturgy, on the 22d July 
1637, was the result of a previous consultation, held in the 
month of April, when Mr Henderson came from the brethren 
in Fife, and Mr David Dickson from those in the west; and, in 
concert with Lord Balmerino and Sir Thomas Hope, engaged 
certain matrons to put the first affront on the Service-book." 
This story, however, is completely contradicted by the official 
accounts of that transaction, not only by those of the town 
council of Edinburgh, and the privy council, but also by that 
of his majesty; all which agree in the declaration, that, upon 
the strictest inquiry, it appeared, that the tumult was raised by 
the meaner people, without any influence, concert, or interfer- 
ence of the superior classes. The truth is, Mr Henderson had 
no other hand in this affair, than by pointing out the dangerous 
tendency of the measure, and the fatal consequences to be ap- 
prehended from acquiescing with a system so directly opposed 
to the oath of God, which the presbyterians had so solemnly 
sworn. On March 9th, 1637, about three months before this 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 658 

ttimult took place, we find a letter of Mr Samuel Rutherford's, 
addressed to Mr Henderson, in which, amongst other things, 
he says, " As for your case, my reverend and dearest brother, 
you are the talk of the north and the south, and so looked to 
as if you were all crystal glass; but your motes and your dust will 
soon be proclaimed, and trumpets blown at your slips. But I 
know you have laid your help upon One who is mighty. Trust 
not your comforts to men's airy and frothy applause, neither 
lay your downcastings on the tongues of the mockers and re- 
proachers of godliness. God has called you to Christ's side; 
and seeing the wind is now in Christ's face, and you are with 
him, you cannot therefore expect the lee side of the ship, or the 
sunny side of the brae; but I know you have resolved to take 
Christ upon any terms." 

The archbishop of St. Andrew's, on purpose to deter others, 
charged Mr Henderson, and other two ministers, to purchase, 
each of them, two copies of the Liturgy, for the use of their 
parishes, and that within fifteen days, on pain of rebellion. 
Mr Henderson went to Edinburgh in the month of August, the 
same year, 1637, and presented a petition for himself and his 
brethren, stating their objections, and praying for a suspension 
of the charge. To this petition, and others of a similar nature, 
presented from almost every quarter, about the same time, a fa- 
vourable answer was obtained from the council, and an account 
forthwith transmitted to London, stating the strong and gene- 
ral aversion of the people to a conformity. This step was of 
great importance, by directing those who were aggrieved to the 
proper mode of obtaining redress. From this time Mr Hender- 
son had his hands full of employment, and greatly distinguish- 
ed himself by his activity in promoting the measures of the pe- 
titioners, and his prudent management had no small share in 
bringing them to an agreeable termination. 

The time to favour Zion was now at hand; and we are in- 
formed, that the privy council having, at this time testified 
their aversion to the violent enforcement of the prelatical usa- 
ges, did afterwards, on many interesting occasions, befriend the 
petitioners. In 1636 a book of Ecclesiastical Canons was sent 
down from London, and, during the same year, a book of Or- 
dination; and after a short pause, and some serious deliberation 
and delay, the Liturgy? or Service-book, which was intended 
to complete this tyrannical work, made its unwelcome appear- 
ance in Scotland. This Service-book was substantially the 
same with that used in the church of England, only it had been 
considered necessary, on this critical occasion, to make some 
trifling alterations, lest the national pride of the Scottish people 
might spurn at a literal copy being imposed on the church. 



654< MEMOIR OF 

Had Scotland tamely submitted to this bold obtrusion, and suf- 
fered them to rivet the chains with which they had already fet- 
tered the nation, she might afterwards have sighed and strug- 
gled for her liberty, but she must have struggled in vain. But 
the bold and arbitrary measures, by which these innovations 
were obtruded on the nation, were no less offensive than the in- 
novations themselves. This, added to the chagrin produced by 
former tyrannical measures of the court and the bishops, excit- 
ed universal disgust, and aroused an indignant spirit of opposi- 
tion; which never subsided, till not only the obnoxious acts 
were swept away, but the whole fabric of episcopacy, which, 
during so many years, they had been so anxiously labouring to 
consummate, was levelled with the ground. In the meantime, 
the petitioners were active in preparing themselves for meeting 
the doubtful crisis which was evidently approaching. They 
held their meetings for deliberation, and stirred up one another 
to an inflexible adherence to what they considered the cause of 
Christ and his gospel. Their meetings, in the meantime, were 
winked at; but after they had for a while been amused with 
fair promises, all of a sudden they were prohibited, by a pro- 
clamation from his majesty, under pain of rebellion. This un- 
expected procedure, on the part of the government, convinced 
the petitioners, that they had no reason to confide in the faith 
and promises of the court; but that it behoved them to provide 
for their own safety, and the defence of their cause, by some 
other means than they had yet resorted to. Accordingly, the 
recollection, that the nation of Scotland, in a similar situation 
of danger, had formerly entered into a solemn covenant, by 
which they bound themselves to God, and one another, to con- 
tinue in the true protestant religion, and support and defend 
one another in accordance with the oath they had sworn against 
all their opposers — made them resolve, that this, the co- 
venant of their fathers, should be renewed, and sworn by all 
who were willing so to support the independence of the Scot- 
tish church and nation. A draught of this covenant was there- 
fore taken. It was substantially the same with the national 
covenant of Scotland, which had been sworn by all ranks, and 
ratified by all authorities in the kingdom, during the preceding 
reign, only that it was adapted to the circumstances in which 
they found themselves then placed, and also to the corruptions 
which had been latterly introduced. This covenant was sworn 
with uplifted hands, and subscribed in the Gray-friars church, 
Edinburgh, on the 1st March 1638, by thousands, consisting of 
noblemen, gentlemen, burgesses, ministers of the gospel, and 
commons from all parts of Scotland. " This memorable deed 
(says Mr Lang), of which it would be improper to forget the 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 655 

authors, was prepared by Alexander Henderson, the leader of 
the clergy, and Archibald Johnston, afterwards of Warriston, 
advocate — men in whom the supplicants chiefly confided — and 
revised by Lords Balmerino, Loudon, and Rothis. The cove- 
nant being thus agreed to, and sworn throughout the nation with 
much alacrity, the marquis of Hamilton was commissioned by the 
king to suppress it; but after several conferences with the pres- 
byterian deputation, and finding them inflexible, he proposed, 
in the name of his majesty, to withdraw the book of Ordination 
and the Liturgy, providing they would, on their part, relin- 
quish their covenant. But instead of yielding, this proposal had 
the effect of making them more intent in supporting and vindi- 
cating this solemn transaction, and Mr Henderson soon fur- 
nished the country with sufficient reasons why they should not 
relinquish any part of it. At this time the inhabitants of Scot- 
land were divided into two parties, the covenanters and non- 
covenanters; and several of the former had partly submitted to 
the bishops, and conformed to the articles of Perth, though still 
accounted orthodox preachers, and zealous opposers of popery 
and arminianism; such as Messrs Robert Baillie, Henry Rol- 
lock, John Bell, Andrew and Robert Ramsay, &c. who, upon 
the first appearance of the Service-book, joined with their 
brethren in opposing the innovations. The town and shire of 
Aberdeen, influenced by their doctors in the university and the 
marquis of Huntly, had hitherto declined to join with the rest 
of the nation in carrying on the reformation. In order to per- 
suade them to make common cause with the country, in this 
important national concern, the tables, as they were then called, 
or committees for managing the affairs of the petitioners, thought 
it advisable to send lord Couper, and the earls of Montrose and 
Kinghorn, together with Messrs Henderson, Dickson, and Cant, 
to persuade them to embrace the covenant. On their arrival at 
Aberdeen, they were but coldly received by the leading charac- 
ters in the town. They were not permitted to preach in any 
of their churches, and their doctors presented them with four- 
teen captious and ensnaring questions, respecting the covenant, 
which they had drawn up with singular art and care. Differ- 
ent papers passed between the parties on this occasion, which 
were afterwards published. Those of the covenanters are said 
to have been written by Mr Henderson. Under these unpro- 
mising circumstances, the three ministers resolved to preach in 
earl Marischal's Closs or Hall, as the weather permitted, and 
accordingly preached by turns; Mr Dickson in the morning, 
Mr Cant at noon, and Mr Henderson in the evening, to great 
multitudes. They used every possible argument to persuade 
them to subscribe the covenant, and stand or fall with their 



656 MEMOIR OF 

christian brethren; which had the effect of bringing over about 
five hundred men, some of them of the first rank, who sub- 
scribed with cheerfulness. 

The covenanters, alive to the danger that threatened them, 
had been surprisingly active in uniting and arranging them- 
selves; and the astonishing success that attended their endea- 
vours so animated them, that the court was shut up to the ne- 
cessity of granting the prayer of their petitions, that a general 
assembly and a parliament should be called, that the national 
grievances might be deliberately considered, and fairly redress- 
ed. Accordingly, a general assembly was called, and met in 
the High Church of Glasgow, on the 21st of November 1638, 
where, besides an amazing concourse of the people, all the no- 
bility and gentry of any family or interest were present, either 
as members, assessors, or spectators. The assembly was open- 
ed by Mr John Bell, with a sermon from Rev. i. 12, 13. " I 
saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the candle- 
sticks one like unto the son of man, clothed with a garment 
down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden gir- 
dle." Mr Bell also constituted the assembly in the name of 
Christ, the King and head of the church, and held the modera- 
tor's chair till another was chosen. The assembly had just 
proceeded to the election of the moderator, when the bishops 
presented a declinature or protest against the legality of the as- 
sembly; and the marquis of Hamilton, the king's commissioner, 
strongly urged, that this protest should be read before a mode- 
rator was chosen. To this it was reasonably objected, that 
without a moderator there could be no assembly, and therefore 
it was indispensably necessary first to make choice of a mode- 
rator. The commissioner, finding he could not prevail, pro- 
tested against the refusal, and ordered it to be recorded. Be- 
fore the election, the commissioner entered another protest, 
"That this choice should neither prejudice the king's preroga- 
tive, nor any law of the kingdom, nor bar the king from taking 
legal exceptions, either against the person elected, or the elec- 
tion itself." Considering the critical state of affairs, the length 
of time that had elapsed since a general assembly had been held 
in Scotland, the opposition and important discussions expected, 
and the multitude assembled to witness this momentous crisis, 
it was requisite, that a person of uncommon authority, resolu- 
tion, and prudence, possessed of a profound judgment, and a 
ready elocution, should occupy that important place on so me- 
morable an occasion. The eyes of the assembly were fixed on 
Mr Henderson, who had, on several occasions, given signal 
proofs of his capability for such a difficult situation. He was, 
accordingly, chosen without a dissenting voice; and having 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 6^7 

taken the chair, and by solemn prayer constituted the assembly 
de nova, he addressed the members in a neat and appropriate 
speech, and so conducted himself, till the conclusion of their im- 
portant labours, as to exceed the expectations of his greatest 
admirers. To the king's commissioner he behaved with the 
greatest respect, and at the same time with an independence 
that became the head of a free assembly. To the nobility and 
gentry present, and to his brethren, he was equally decorous; 
but his prudence and ability were both brought to the test by 
the excommunication of the bishops, and the premature dissolu- 
tion of the assembly by the king's commissioner. 

Notwithstanding that his majesty found it expedient to call 
together this assembly in the then distracted state of the church 
and nation, in order to prevent them from meeting without 
his concurrence, it would appear, from his after conduct, and the 
instructions given to his commissioner, that he never intended 
they should be allowed freely to proceed with their business. 
The nation was determined to abolish prelacy; the king, on 
the other hand, was equally determined to establish it in the 
country, and seemed to think he had been sufficiently conde- 
scending when he allowed them to register such concessions as 
the state of his affairs rendered it impossible for him much 
longer to withhold. His commissioner was instructed to give no 
formal consent to any part of the assembly's procedure. But 
the members, considering themselves met in a free assembly, 
were determined to exercise that freedom which the laws of 
Christ authorize and prescribe. The protest of the bishops, af- 
ter considerable altercation, was at last read at the repeated re- 
quest of the commissioner; in which they endeavoured to prove 
the illegality of the assembly; which allegation was triumphant- 
ly rebutted by some of the members. The assembly, of course, 
proceeded to vote themselves competent to decide on the merits 
of the libels presented against the bishops notwithstanding 
their declinature; when the royal commissioner interposed, by 
declaring, "That if they pretended to assume the right to try 
the bishops, he could neither give his consent, nor witness the 
transaction." Here he made a speech, the substance of which 
may be seen in Stevenson's History; and delivering the king's 
concessions to the clerk to be read, he ordered them to be re- 
gistered. After this Mr Henderson addressed the commissioner 
in a speech, the substance of which is as follows : "It well 
becomes us, his majesty's true and loyal subjects, convened in 
this honourable and reverend assembly, to receive so liberal a 
token of his majesty's goodness with all thankfulness, and grate- 
fully acknowledge the smallest crumbs of his majesty's liberali- 
ty. With our hearts we acknowledge before God, and with our 

24 4> o 



658 MEMOIR OF 

lips we declare before the world, how far we consider ourselves 
obligated to yield obedience to our dread sovereign, wishing 
that the thoughts of our hearts, and the manner of our lives in 
time past, were manifest to him. It hath been the glory of the 
reformed churches, and we account it our glory, to give to 
kings and magistrates whatever belong to their respective places 
of power and authority. We know, and cheerfully acknow- 
ledge, that, next to piety towards God, we are bound to be loyal 
to the prince; and there is nothing due to kings and princes, in 
matters ecclesiastical, which I trust will be denied by this as- 
sembly to our king : For besides his authority and power in 
matters civil, to a christian king also belongs, 1st, Inspection of 
church affairs. 2d, Its vindication and protection from con- 
tempt and abuse. 3d, To sanction the constitutions of the kirk, 
and give them the authority of law. 4th, The power to com- 
pel kirkmen to perform the duties of their respective places. 
5th, The christian magistrate hath also power to convoke ec- 
clesiastical assemblies, when the state of religion renders such a 
measure necessary; and in assemblies, when they are convened, 
we acknowledge his power is also great. Moreover, we hearti- 
ly acknowledge, that your grace, as high commissioner, and re- 
presenting the royal person of our sovereign, has an eminent 
place in this reverend and honourable assembly. 1st, We hope 
as a good christian; 2d, As his majesty's high commissioner; 
and, 3d, As one endued with singular gifts, and abundantly 
qualified for this employment. Far be it from us to deny any 
thing that is due either to the supreme ruler, or those delegated 
by his authority. When Alexander the Great came to Jerusa- 
lem, he desired them to set up his image in the temple. This 
the Jews modestly refused to do, because it was against their 
law, and that the law of God; but they liberally offered him 
what was in their power to grant, a favour much more honour- 
able to the king, namely, to commence their reckoning of time 
from his arrival at Jerusalem, and also to call their first-born 
sons by his name. What is our own, let it be given to Cassar, 
and given with cheerfulness. But let God, by whom kings 
reign, have his own place. Let Christ Jesus, the King of kings, 
have his own prerogative, by whose grace our king reigns; and, 
we pray, long may he reign over us in happiness and pro- 
sperity." 

The high commissioner seemed to receive this address with 
satisfaction. He replied, " Sir, you have spoken like a good 
christian and a dutiful subject, and I am hopeful you will con- 
duct yourself with that deference which you owe to our royal 
sovereign; all of whose commands, I trust, will be found con- 
sistent with the commandments of God." 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 6,59 

The moderator then asked the members, if he should now put 
the question, Whether or not the assembly found themselves 
competent to decide on the case of the bishops? But the com- 
missioner urged that the question be deferred. " Nay (said the 
moderator), with your grace's permission, that cannot be. This 
is the only proper time after the consideration of the declina- 
ture." " In this case (said the commissioner) I behove to with- 
draw." " I wish the contrary (said Mr Henderson), with all 
my heart, and that your grace would favour us with your pre- 
sence, without obstructing the work and freedom of the assem- 
bly." Finding the assembly were determined to proceed, the 
commissioner having urged Mr Henderson, but without effect, 
to conclude by prayer, he, in his majesty's name, dissolved the 
assembly, forbade their further procedure, and withdrew. On 
the departure of the commissioner, Mr Henderson delivered the 
following animating speech : "All present know how this as- 
sembly was indicted, and what power we allow to our sovereign 
in matters ecclesiastical; but though we have acknowledged the 
power of christian kings' for convening assemblies, and their 
power in them, that must not derogate from Christ's right, who 
has given warrant to convocate assemblies whether magistrates 
consent or not. Therefore, perceiving that his grace, my lord 
commissioner, is zealous in fulfilling the orders of his royal 
master, have not we an equal, if not a more powerful induce- 
ment, to be zealous in the cause of our divine Master Christ, 
and to maintain the liberties and privileges of his spiritual king- 
dom ? You all know, that the work now on hand hath been 
attended with many difficulties, and yet hitherto the Lord has 
helped us to surmount them all. Let us not therefore be dis- 
couraged at our being thus deprived of human authority, a cir- 
cumstance which ought rather to animate our courage, and sti- 
mulate our exertions in finishing the important work before 
us." Having thus spoken, he desired any of the reverend and 
honourable members, who pleased to speak a word for the en- 
couragement of their brethren, as God should put it into their 
hearts. Upon this Messrs David Dickson, Henry Rollock, 
Andrew Cant, and Andrew Ramsay of the clergy; Loudon of 
the nobility; Keir of the gentry; and Mr Robert Cunningham 
of the boroughs — delivered beautiful and pathetic speeches, by 
which the members, and many of the spectators, were greatly 
encouraged. The moderator now put the question, Whether 
the assembly would adhere to the protestation against the royal 
commissioner's departure, and proceed with the business for 
which they were convened? Which was carried with only 
about five dissenting voices. The competency of the assembly, 
to decide on the cases of the bishops of Scotland, was next car- 



660 MEMOIR OF 

ried with only four dissenting voices. A proclamation was is- 
sued, with great solemnity, at the Market-cross of Glasgow, 
against the assembly; but opposition rather animated than dis- 
couraged the members of this venerable body. 

At the opening of the next session, Mr Henderson again ad- 
dressed the assembly, warmly recommending gravity, quietness, 
and good conduct; " the propriety of which (he said) was obvious 
on every occasion, but more especially so under the circum- 
stances in which the assembly were convened, when the eyes of the 
nation were on them, and their enemies watching for an opportu- 
nity of scandalizing their proceedings; not that he assumed any 
thing to himself, but he was bold to direct them in a course which 
he was assured their own prudence and discretion must have 
chalked out on the present occasion." To this prudent admoni- 
tion the members of the assembly paid the strictest attention 
through all their sittings. 

The earl of Argyle attended this second session, when the 
moderator earnestly entreated him, though no member, yet, for 
the common interest he had in the church, that he would be 
pleased to countenance them with his presence, and bear testi- 
mony to the rectitude of their proceedings; which he readily 
promised, and faithfully performed. Argyle was desirous that 
the Confession of Faith should be clearly explained. On which 
the moderator said, " Although we do not compare the Confes- 
sion of any reformed church with the word of God, nor account 
it a rule of life, neither indeed that of our own church, any 
thing more than a form of confession, yet have we good reason 
to consider it with honourable regard. Other churches have 
given it an ample testimony, and it were a shame for us to do 
less; and that we may do this with the greater propriety, it be- 
comes necessary that we clearly understand the various articles 
it contains, especially such as have been controverted. But 
that, however necessary this was, it would require much time 
to hear and peruse all the books and acts necessary for effecting 
this desirable work; he proposed therefore that a committee be 
appointed for that particular purpose." To this the assembly 
readily acceded. This assembly condemned the proceedings 
of six former assemblies; on which occasion Mr Henderson 
said, "Having unanimously agreed to the condemnation of 
these corrupt assemblies, I hope henceforward they shall be con- 
sidered as so many beacons, to prevent our striking on such 
dangerous rocks. 

Some ministers, who had been tried by their respective pres- 
byteries, and suspended, were remitted to this assembly for a 
higher punishment. When their case was under discussion, 
the moderator delivered a grave discourse on the power of the 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 66l 

church; in which he observed, "That they ought to be heard 
with a feeling of compassion for themselves, and of joy and 
gratitude to God, who was now putting forth his hand for the 
cleansing of his own house — hoping, and exhorting, that the 
several judicatories would now faithfully exercise the power 
which the Lord had put into their hands." Before sentence 
was given against the bishop of Galloway, Mr Henderson made 
a short speech ; in which he said, " The preaching of false doc- 
trine, to seduce the people from their profession to that of popery 
and idolatry, is a crime deserving an high censure. But this man's 
breach of the caveats, his bringing into this church the Ser- 
vice-book, which you have already condemned for the many 
gross abominations therein contained, and his declining this 
lawful assembly, independent of his personal faults, deserve the 
highest censures of the church. It is well known, that the 
church of Scotland has been in the practice of excommunicating 
papists, and persons disobedient to the discipline of the church, 
from partaking of the holy communion ; and seeing the bishops 
are guilty in both these respects, why should not that high cen- 
sure be inflicted upon them? What a reverend father (Mi- 
Andrew Melvill) said, with respect to archbishop Adamson, is 
equally applicable to these pretended bishops : i The old ser- 
pent has stung them with such avarice, and swoln them with 
such exorbitant pride, domineering and tyrannical power, as 
threatens the destruction of the whole body, unless they be cut 
off.' It seems indispensably necessary therefore, that this last 
mean be essayed; and let us pray to God to make his ordinance 
effectual for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be 
saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." 

Having finished the process of the bishops, the assembly, at 
the close of their nineteenth session, resolved, " That the sen- 
tences of the bishops should be pronounced next day, by the 
moderator, in presence of the assembly, after preaching a ser- 
mon suited to the solemn occasion." This part of the work 
Mr Henderson undertook with great reluctance. It was in vain 
that he pled the great fatigue he had undergone, the multipli- 
city of affairs that distracted his attention, and the shortness of 
the time for preparation. No excuse would be admitted. Ac- 
cordingly, after preaching from Psalm ex. 1. "The Lord said 
unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine 
enemies thy footstool," he caused an abstract of the evidence to 
be read for the satisfaction of the people, narrated the various 
steps taken by the assembly, pointed out the necessity of the 
measure, and the warrant they had in the word of God for car- 
rying it into execution. He called over the names of the eight 
bishops of Scotland, and pronounced the sentences of excom- 



662 MEMOIR OF 

munication and suspension, in such a dread and solemn manner, 
says one who was present, that the whole assembly felt the 
mingled emotions of pity, admiration, and awe. 

On the following day, a petition from St. Andrew's was pre- 
sented to the assembly, praying that Mr Henderson might be 
removed from Leuchars to that city. This was strongly oppos- 
ed by the commissioners from Edinburgh, who insisted that he 
was their elected minister, and urged their privilege of tran- 
sporting from any part of the kingdom. Mr Henderson, who 
was averse to any removal, insisted, " That he was now too old 
a plant to take root in any other soil." He had been at this 
time eighteen years minister, and appears to have been about 
fifty-three years of age. After a warm contest, which lasted 
two days, Edinburgh carried it by seventy-five votes, and Mr 
Henderson submitted, on obtaining a promise, that, in case of 
ill health, or when the infirmities of old age should overtake 
him, he should be allowed a country charge. 

When the assembly had finished their business, Mr Hender- 
son addressed them in a speech of considerable length, of which 
we can only present the reader with an outline, the substance 
of which may be seen in Stevenson's History. He modestly 
apologized for his deficiencies in discharging the duties of the 
situation in which they had placed him, and thanked the as- 
sembly for rendering his task so easy, by the praise-worthy 
manner in which, through the whole of their arduous labours, 
they had all conducted themselves. He exhorted them to con- 
sider the wonderful goodness of God to the church and king- 
dom of Scotland, both in the days of their fathers, and in latter 
times, when their adversaries were the head, and they only the 
tail, and especially his glorious appearance in their behalf on 
the present memorable occasion, when he has delivered us from 
the galling yoke, which neither we nor our fathers were able to 
bear. "Now (said he), in his abundant mercy and loving- 
kindness he has delivered us from the Service-book, which was 
a book of slavery; from the book of Canons, which tied us down 
in chains of spiritual bondage; from the book of Ordination, 
which was a yoke of unsupportable weight on the necks of all 
faithful ministers; from the high commission, which was the 
watchful guardian that kept us under all that slavery; and the 
civil places of churchmen, the capital that ornamented the un- 
hallowed structure, adding a glare of splendour to all these 
abominations. Seeing, therefore, that our God has thus kindly 
dealt with us, turning our sorrow into rejoicing, and our sack- 
cloth into the garments of praise, leading captivity captive, and 
making our lordly oppressors incapable of further oppression, it 
behoves us, in gratitude to God, and consciousness of that li- 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 660 

berty wherewith Christ hath made his people free, to hold fast 
that where unto we have attained, and not be again entangled 
in the yoke of bondage. A courtier once degraded, you all 
know, but rarely regains his credit; and this especially holds 
true in spiritual concerns. I grant, the Lord can give eves to 
the blind, and raise the dead, of which we are witnesses this 
day, having ourselves been brought back to the Shepherd of our 
souls, after running far on in a course of backsliding. But 
take heed to yourselves, and beware, I beseech you, of a second 
defection. I grant the cross is hard to look upon; but if we 
get strength from our Lord, it will be an easy yoke. He has 
promised sufficiency of grace, let us therefore endure the great- 
est extremity, rather than again put our necks under this yoke 
of debasing slavery. Remember the plague of Laodicea, and 
beware of her sin. Concerning the nobles, barons, and bur- 
gesses, who have attended here, I must say, and can say it in 
all the confidence of the word of truth, them who honour God, 
God will honour. Those nobles, said he, whose hearts the 
Lord hath moved to be the chief instruments in this great 
work, like the tops of the mountains, were first discovered in 
this deluge; which encouraged the vallies to hope, that these 
waters of affliction would also be removed from them; which 
hope we have all seen realized this day. A few years ago, he 
would have been thought a foolish man who expected such 
things from our nobles as we now see; but our Lord has nobili- 
tated them, so that they have taken part in all our trials, and 
had a principal hand in all the conclusions which we have 
brought to pass, and their liberality hath abounded to many on 
this occasion. The Sun of Righteousness has shined on these 
mountains, and long, long may he continue to shine upon 
them, for the comfort of the hills, and refreshing of the vallies. 
May the blessing of God rest upon them and their families, 
and we trust it will be so seen to after generations." He re- 
commended a favourable construction of his majesty's opposi- 
tion to the measures they had been engaged in forwarding, ex- 
pressed his grateful sense of the harmony that had so conspicu- 
ously distinguished the assembly during their long and ardent 
labours; and concluded, with gratefully acknowledging the ge- 
nerous and hospitable treatment the members of the assembly 
had received from the inhabitants of Glasgow, and the particu- 
lar countenance and aid afforded them by their chief magis- 
trate. Having concluded the business of this famous assem- 
bly by prayer, he sung the cxxxiii. Psalm, and pronounced the 
apostolic benediction; and while the members were rising to de- 
part, Mr Henderson stood up, and said, " We have cast down 
the walls of Jericho; let him who attempts to rebuild them, be- 
ware of the curse of Hiel the Bethclite" 



664< MEMOIR OF 

Thus episcopacy, which was held an abomination in Scot- 
land, with all its tyrannical appendages, was abolished, and 
declared unlawful, and the whole fabric, which James and 
Charles had, both by stratagem and strength, been so many 
years in rearing, was at once overthrown. The formidable op- 
position which the members of this assembly had to encounter, 
was sufficient, one would imagine, to damp the spirits, and cool 
the ardour, of ordinary men. They found the eight lordly 
bishops of Scotland, with the archbishop of Canterbury, and all 
their numerous adherents, at their back; while the earl of Ha- 
milton the king's commissioner, the court, and the king him- 
self appeared at their head; but the consideration, that the civil 
and religious freedom of their country were objects of the first 
importance to themselves and their posterity, and that the time 
was arrived, when, in all probability, the last opportunity for 
exercising their patriotism with even the shadow of hope, had 
presented itself, they braved every danger. 

Mr Henderson's conspicuous place in the assembly, and his 
singular activity in discharging the duties of his high office, so 
exposed him to the resentment both of the court and the bi- 
shops, that neither the strict propriety, nor the singular modera- 
tion of his conduct, could protect him from their malicious rage. 
When the members of the assembly returned to their respective 
homes, they carefully published the conclusions the general as- 
sembly had sanctioned; which spread the report of their whole 
proceedings to every corner of the land. It was no sooner 
known at court, that they had dared to sit after being dissolved 
by the authority of the commissioner, and after his departure 
from the assembly, and that the people greatly applauded their 
conduct, than the king meditated revenge, and resolved to raise 
an army to reduce them to obedience. Aware of what was 
going forward in England, the covenanters, during the winter 
of 1639, were actively employed in preparing for the threaten- 
ed invasion, and Mr Henderson's pen was employed in several 
publications to vindicate the measures that had been taken, as 
well as the duty and necessity of defending the liberties and 
constitutional laws of the kingdom. At the request of the de- 
puties, he drew up a paper, entitled, The Remonstrance of the 
Nobility, Barons, Burgesses, Ministers, and Commons, within 
the kingdom of Scotland, vindicating their proceedings from the 
crimes wherewith they are charged by the late proclamation in 
England, February 27^, 1639. This paper, after being revis- 
ed by the deputies, was industriously circulated in England by 
their friends, and proved very advantageous to their cause in 
tbat country. He also drew up instructions for defensive arms. 
This paper he composed, it is said, rather against his inclination; 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 665 

and being hastily drawn up, he did not allow it to be printed. 
It was, nevertheless, read from many a pulpit as the work of 
one of their best penmen. The magnanimity of the Scotch, and 
the indifference of the English nation, for the royal cause, forc- 
ed his majesty to listen to overtures of peace, and Mr Hender- 
son was appointed one of the commissioners for the Scotch 
army, to carry on the treaty of pacification, in June 1639. The 
king was much delighted with Mr Henderson's discourse, who, 
during the whole of that long protracted business, displayed his 
rare abilities, as on all other important occasions. 

Mr Henderson was one of the fourteen chief persons, amongst 
the covenanters, who were required, by an order from the king, 
to attend his court at Berwick, after the Scotch army had been 
disbanded. According to bishop Guthrie, the king wished to 
consult them as to the manner of his coming into Scotland to 
hold the assembly and parliament in person. Bishop Burnet 
says, {i He meant to try what effect fair treatment would have 
upon his refractory subjects in Scotland." But Sir James Bal- 
four, Lion king at arms, expressly tells us, " That it was a trap 
laid to ensnare the principal men of the covenanting party, re- 
sorted to by the advice of some corrupt courtier, and that it 
was by a hint of their danger from some friend at court that 
they escaped from the snare." Be this as it may, in conse- 
quence of an alarm, circulated to this effect, they were stopped 
at the Water-gate of Edinburgh, when setting out for Berwick, 
their horses taken from them by the populace, and they were pre- 
vented from proceeding; nor did they, after due deliberation, 
judge it prudent to resume their journey. This disappoint- 
ment greatly offended his majesty, who, without waiting the 
meeting of either assembly or parliament, set out for London, in 
a fit of chagrin, on the 29th of July. 

At the opening of the general assembly, which met at Edin- 
burgh on the 12th of August this year, 1639, Mr Henderson, 
the former moderator, preached from Acts v. 33. Towards the 
conclusion of his discourse, he addressed the earl of Traquhair, 
the king's commissioner, to the following effect : " We beseech 
your grace (said he) to see that Csesar have his own; but let 
him have nothing that belongs to God, by whom king's reign. 
God hath exalted your grace within these few years, and he is 
still continuing to exalt you more and more. Be thankful for 
these special marks of his favour, and labour to exalt Christ's 
throne. Some men have been exalted like Haman, some like 
Mordecai, and I pray God that these eminent parts, wherewith 
lie has endowed your grace, may be exercised for the glory of 
God, the honour of the king, and the real advantage of this 
church and nation." To the members of the assembly, he said, 
24 4 p 



666 MEMOIR OF 

" Right honourable, worshipful, and reverend, the cause in 
which you are now embarked, and for the promotion of which 
you are now assembled together, is the cause of Christ, the cause 
of common justice between our liege lord the king, and his du- 
tiful subjects. In such a good cause, it becomes you to proceed 
with all the fervour of a well-tempered zeal, so mingled with 
moderation, that presbytery, the government we contend for in 
the church, may appear to the world in every respect consistent 
with monarchy in the state, that thereby we may obtain the 
favour of our king, and our Redeemer retain the untarnished ho- 
nour of his regal crown." The royal commissioner was anxious 
that Mr Henderson should be re-elected; but whether from a 
sense of his qualifications for filling the office, or to answer some 
end of his royal master, cannot be easily ascertained; only the 
assembly were suspicious of the latter, and vigorously opposed the 
motion of the commissioner, as favouring too much the idea of 
a constant moderator, which had always been the first step to- 
wards the introduction of episcopacy; and none discovered a 
greater aversion to the proposal than Mr Henderson himself. 

Mr David Dickson, minister of Irvine, was chosen moderator 
by a great majority. Bishop Guthrie says, " That Mr Dick- 
son was much inferior to his predecessor in that office, and that 
he must have been still more embarrassed, had not Mr Hender- 
son been placed at his elbow as his coadjutor." Whether the 
bishop has fairly represented the case or not, it shows that Mr 
Henderson's abilities were respected even by the episcopalians 
themselves. In this assembly the whole frame-work of episco- 
pacy, was condemned. The royal commissioner required the 
assembly to state the grounds of this condemnation; which was 
done by the moderator, Mr Henderson and Mr Andrew Ram- 
say, who shewed, from the history of the primitive churches* 
as well as from the holy scriptures, that prelatical superiority 
amongst the ministers of Christ was utterly unknown in the 
first ages of Christianity; that it had ever been destructive 
of that simplicity of government recommended by Christ, and 
adhered to by his followers for several centuries ; and that it was 
merely a human invention, and had frequently been used for 
the introduction of popery, arminianism, superstition, and ido- 
latry. It was moved by Mr Henderson, that the assembly 
should take into their consideration the propriety of drawing 
up a confession, positively condemning the errors and immora- 
lities charged against some ministers, and clearing the doctrine 
of the church of Scotland, that none might afterwards pretend 
ignorance. The synod of Dort took this method with the ar- 
minians; and the assembty, on this occasion, agreed to Mr 
Henderson's motion; but if ever the object was carried into 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 667 

effect, the report has not reached us. Mr Henderson preached 
the sermon at opening the parliament, August 31st, 1639, from 
1 Tim. ii. 1, 2, 3. wherein he principally dwelt on the utility, 
importance, and necessity of magistracy. 

The town council of Edinburgh, who were the patrons and 
governors of the university of that city, having but annually 
visited that seat of learning during the preceding twenty-five 
years, the rector had become remiss in discharging the duties 
which that office imposed upon him. The council therefore, 
taking the matter under their consideration, came to the reso- 
lution of annually choosing a rector, whose powers of office 
should be pointed out by articles framed for the purpose. In 
accordance with this resolution, they made choice of Mr Hen- 
derson, then one of the ministers of that city, for rector of the 
university, and ordained that a silver mace should be borne be- 
fore him on all solemnities, appointing certain members of 
the council, ministers of the city, and professors in the college, 
for his assessors. When the war was again renewed against 
the Scots, and they declared rebels, every regiment was attend- 
ed by a chaplain, one of the most eminent ministers in the 
bounds where the regiment was raised; amongst these were 
Messrs Henderson, Blair, Baillie, Cant, Livingston, Gillespie, 
and others, who were vested with presbyterian authority, and 
were to perform every part of their ministerial duties proper in 
such circumstances. In the beginning of August 1640, the 
army arrived at Dunse, where they were reviewed by the gene- 
ral, and marched into England on the 20th of the same 
month. Notwithstanding these warlike measures, the covenanters 
still used the most loyal and submissive language, declaring 
that they entered England with no other view than to obtain 
access to the king's presence, and lay their grievances at his 
majesty's feet. The English, however, disbelieved them, and 
disputed the passage of the river, some miles above Newcastle, 
by a detachment of 4,500 men, commanded by Conway. The 
Scots first civilly entreated them not to prevent them from 
approaching their gracious sovereign; but could not prevail; 
on which they attacked them with great bravery, killed 
some, and drove the rest from their ground, on the 28th of 
August the same year. On the rumour of this defeat, the 
whole English army left Newcastle, and fled to Durham; and 
not yet thinking themselves sufficiently safe, retreated to York- 
shire. The Scotch army took possession of Newcastle; and 
though sufficiently elated, they preserved strict discipline, and 
persevered in their resolution to pay for every thing, in order 
to maintain the appearance of an amicable correspondence with 
England. The nation was now universally and greatly dis- 



668 MEMOIR OF 

contented; so that the success of* the Scottish army, and the dis- 
tressed condition of the king, induced him a second time to ac- 
cede to proposals of peace; when a treaty for this purpose was 
begun at Rippon, and afterwards transferred to London. Mr 
Henderson was appointed one of the commissioners for this 
treaty, by whose means the foundation was laid of that conjunc- 
tion between the two nations, both in civil and religious affairs, 
which was afterwards confirmed by the solemnity of an oath. 

The Scottish commissioners urged the propriety of a unity 
In religion, and a uniformity in church government, as an 
especial mean of preserving and perpetuating peace between 
the two kingdoms; and at the same time delivered to the Eng- 
lish commissioners a paper, said to be drawn up by Mr Hender- 
son, clearly stating the reasons for, and the obvious advantages 
that would naturally result from such a necessary measure. 
A favourable answer was given to this document, both by king 
and parliament, intimating in general, that as the parliament 
had already taken into consideration the reformation of the go- 
vernment of the church, so they would, in due time, proceed 
with that affair, so as it should appear most conducive to the 
glory of God, the peace of the church, and to both kingdoms. 
This was afterwards ratified as one of the articles of the treaty. 

The Scottish commissioners had every advantage in conduct- 
ing their treaty. They were lodged in the city, and had an 
intimate correspondence with the magistrates, the citizens, and 
the popular leaders in both Houses of Parliament. While at- 
tending on the duties of his commission, respecting the treaty 
of peace, Mr Henderson was often employed in preaching for 
one or other of the London ministers, both on the Sabbath, and 
other days, besides preparing some very important tracts for 
the press. At the desire of the English ministers, he wrote 
reasons why the bishops should be removed from the church. 
This treatise was printed in 1641. The polishing of many im- 
portant papers was confided to Mr Henderson, and he compos- 
ed the far greater part of those concerned with the church. 
While in London, he had a private conference with the king, 
the particular object of which was to procure, from the rents 
formerly appropriated by the bishops, some assistance to the 
much neglected universities in Scotland. He was well receiv- 
ed, and had reason to expect something would be done for their 
relief. Towards the end of July 1641 he returned to Scot- 
land. The general assembly met at St. Andrew's on the ^Oth 
of the same month; and at the request of the parliament, who 
were then sitting in Edinburgh, they removed to that city, 
where Mr Henderson was chosen moderator. 

From the observations he was enabled to make while in 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 66 ( J 

England, in consequence of his familiarity with both ministers 
and people, he clearly perceived that there would soon be an 
important change in the structure of the church, and that there 
was a considerable prospect of their approaching to a nearer 
conformity to the order of the church of Scotland; and in his 
capacity of commissioner to the above treaty, he laboured 
strenuously to promote that conformity. With this important 
object in view, he very seasonably moved, in the general as- 
sembly, that a confession of faith, a catechism, a directory for 
all the parts of public worship, and a platform of church go- 
vernment should be drawn up; to which the church of England 
might probably afterwards agree. The motion was unanimous- 
ly agreed to, and the burden of the labour laid on the shoulders 
of the mover. Liberty was given him, however, to desist from 
preaching while engaged in this important business, and power 
to call the assistance of such ministers as he thought proper to 
assist him in forwarding the work. The king revisited Scot- 
land in this year 1641, that he might be present at the parlia- 
ment of his native kingdom, leaving both Houses of the Eng- 
lish parliament sitting at Westminster. He was shut up to the 
necessity of cultivating a closer connection with the Scottish 
nation, for the support of his tottering throne. Mr Henderson 
waited on his majesty as his chaplain, and was appointed to pro- 
vide preachers for him during the time he remained in the 
country. His majesty, on this occasion, so conducted himself, 
that the people were beginning to entertain hopes that hence- 
forth he would rather encourage than oppose the reformation 
then in forwardness; but they were little acquainted with 
his true character. The last day of the meeting of this parlia- 
ment was attended with great solemnity. The king, seated on 
his throne, and the estates all arranged in their respective 
places, Mr Henderson began with prayer, and closed the meet- 
ing with a sermon. 

The revenues of the bishopricks were divided at this time, 
and Mr Henderson exerted himself in behalf of the universities; 
and by his influence, procured, with great difficulty, what be- 
longed to the bishoprick of Edinburgh, and priory for the uni- 
versity of that city. The emoluments belonging to the chapel 
royal, amounting to four thousand merks yearly, were, at this 
time, conferred upon him as a recompence for his painful and 
expensive services in the cause of the public. The king was, 
in general, very accommodating and favourable to the nation 
on this visit, anxious to obtain their assistance against his Eng- 
lish parliament, with whom he was at great variance. Argyle 
was created a marquis, the lords Loudon and Lindsay were 
raised to the dignity of earls, and all parties were so well pleas- 



670 MEMOIR OF 

ed, that on the king's departure, it was said, he departed a con- 
tented king from a contented people. But duplicity strongly 
marked his character; so that those who knew him best, put no 
faith in his apparent reformation, and therefore joined with the 
English parliament for the recovery of their liberty, and secur- 
ing their religion. Mr Henderson was much engaged in ma- 
naging the correspondence with England during 1642, particu- 
larly that relating to reformation and uniformity in religion. 

Upon the resolution of the English parliament to abolish 
episcopacy, they requested that some of the Scottish divines 
should be sent to London to assist in a synod which they had 
resolved to convene; and Mr Henderson, Avith three others, 
were appointed commissioners to that assembly, and ordered to 
hold themselves in readiness to remove to England as soon as 
it became necessary. This journey, owing to the civil war in 
England, was for some time deferred. Mr Henderson was 
anxious that the contending parties would come to some ho- 
nourable accommodation of their differences; and for this pur- 
pose, joined with a number of leading men, in an invitation to 
the queen to come into Scotland, with the view of promoting a 
mediation; but the king rejected this well meant proposal. Mi- 
Henderson afterwards went in person to the king, and, toge- 
ther with other commissioners from the state, oifered the medi- 
ation of the Scottish nation. But their assistance in subjecting 
the English parliament was the object that lay nearest the king's 
heart at this time; so that their mission was scouted, and their 
reception unfavourable. Their powers of interference with the 
internal dissensions of the English nation were called in ques- 
tion, and the religious uniformity, which they proposed as the 
only specific for cementing the jarring interests of both king- 
doms in general, and of the contending parties of England in 
particular, his majesty did not relish, and, in the present state 
of his affairs, could by no means condescend to admit. The 
commissioners were accordingly reviled and threatened by the 
royalists, and recalled by the nation in disgust. At the first 
interview, the king endeavoured to convince Mr Henderson of 
the justice and necessity of his appeal to arms; but finding him 
less credulous than he had expected, his behaviour was at 
once transformed from that of the complacent monarch, to a 
frowning and disappointed despot. While remaining at Ox- 
ford, some of the doctors wished to dispute with him on church 
government; but judging it unbecoming the character of a re- 
presentative of the church of Scotland to dispute with a pri- 
vate individual, and viewing them rather disposed to cavil than 
to give or receive information, he signified, that his business in 
England was with the king. Dr. Taylor, a papist, also chal- 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 6?1 

lenged him to a public dispute at Oxford; so insolent were the 
papists now become through the royal favour. Lord Claren- 
don is greatly offended at the firmness, or, as he calls it, the 
great insolence manifested by Mr Henderson on this occasion. 
But on his return to Edinburgh, where he gave a full account 
of his proceedings with the king to the commissioners of the 
church, they expressed their entire satisfaction with his whole 
conduct; and their judgment was confirmed by the next gene- 
ral assembly, who pronounced his carriage to have been faith- 
ful and wise. 

The Scottish nation were highly displeased with the treat- 
ment their commissioners had met with at Oxford; and fully 
convinced, that the king's measures were directed against the 
liberty of both kingdoms, civil as well as religious, they formed 
an alliance with the English parliament — upon which Mr Hen- 
derson was sent to London, where he remained the greater part 
of his remaining days. 

The general assembly of the church of Scotland, which met 
at Edinburgh on the 2d of August 1643, was distinguished by 
the presence of commissioners from the English parliament, the 
formation of the solemn league and covenant, and other trans- 
actions of memorable importance. Foreseeing the mass of 
business to be brought before them, and discussed in the pre- 
sence of so many learned and honourable strangers, the first 
care of the assembly was the choice of a well qualified modera- 
tor; and Mr Henderson was unanimously called to the chair for 
the third time, and every thing conducted with the great- 
est decency and propriety. The English commission consisted 
of Sir William Armyn, Sir Henry Vane, younger, Mr Hatcher, 
and Mr Darley; with two ministers of the gospel, Messrs Philip 
Nye and Stephen Marshall. After an introductory speech, 
said to have been drawn up by Mr Nye and Sir Henry Vane, 
the delegation presented their commission from both Houses of 
the English parliament, with ample powers to them, or any 
four of them, to treat with the covenanters. They likewise 
presented a declaration of both Houses to the assembly, show- 
ing the care they had taken in reforming the churchy and ex- 
pressing their desire that some of the Scottish divines should 
join with their assembly for that purpose. The royal arms be- 
ing at this time triumphant, the parliament of England solicit- 
ed the fraternal assistance of the covenanters, and a covenant 
was proposed. The English at first were for a civil league, 
and the Scotch for a religious covenant; which was ultimately 
agreed to, and Mr Henderson was appointed to set off for Lon- 
don immediately to ratify this solemn deed. He sailed from 
Leith on the 30th of August, in company with other commis- 



67^ MEMOIR OF 

sioners, and, on the 25th of September, the covenant was sworn 
by the members of the House of Commons and the assembly of 
divines, in Margaret's church at Westminster; on which occa- 
sion Mr Henderson delivered an excellent speech, to the fol- 
lowing effect : 

" Honourable, reverend, and beloved in the Lord, 

" Though the time be far spent, yet am I bold to crave 
your patience and attention for a little. Were we altogether to 
hold our peace on such an important occasion as this, we could 
neither be answerable to our God, whose work and cause we 
are assembled to promote, to this church and kingdom, to which 
we have made so warm professions of regard, nor to our native 
kingdom, so abundant in her affection towards you, and the 
cause you have so laudably undertaken to defend, neither in- 
deed to our own hearts, which exceedingly rejoice to see this 
day. We have greater reason than the lepers, sitting at the 
gate of Samaria, to say, ' We do not well, this is a day of good 
tidings, and we hold our peace.' It is true, the Assyrians are 
not yet fled; but our hopes, through God, are, that the work this 
day begun, if sincerely engaged in, and faithfully maintained, 
will be the means of not merely putting to flight these Syrians 
and Babylonians, but all others inimical to the cause of God, 
the honour of the king, and the liberty, peace, and prosperity 
of these distracted kingdoms. For whatever be the situation in 
which the people of God are placed, whether in adversity and 
sorrow, before their deliverance come, or of prosperity, joy, and 
thanksgiving after, still they are welcome applicants at his throne; 
and their joining together in covenant with God, and one ano- 
ther, on such extraordinary occasions, is what he expects at 
their hands — what his people have been accustomed to perform 
in all ages of the church, and that with which he has been so 
well pleased, that he has blessed it, and made it the means of 
their deliverance from the power of their enemies on many a 
pressing occasion. When a people begin to forget God, and 
go a-whoring after strange gods, he lifts up his hand to punish 
their wanderings from the rectitude of his law, from the sim- 
plicity of his ordinances, and the purity of his worship; but 
when they lift up their hands, not only in supplicating the 
throne of mercy, but also in covenanting before the most high 
God, he is pleased (such is his mercy and wonderful condescen- 
sion) to lift up his hand unto them, saying, ' I am the Lord your 
God,' as we have it three times expressed in two verses of the 
twentieth chapter of Ezekiel, and then stretcheth he out his 
omnipotent arm to punish his and their enemies. To join our- 
selves to God, in a covenant never to be departed from, is the 
best work of faith. To ioin ourselves in covenant to God and 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 673 

cue another, is the best work of love and christian communion. 
To join in covenant for the reformation of religion, is the very 
best work of the best zeal. The best proof of true loyalty, is to 
join in covenant for the preservation of our king and the con- 
stitutional liberty and laws of our native country; and such as 
withdraw from this necessary work, and refuse to enter into co- 
venant for such important purposes, have reason to enter into 
their own hearts, and examine the reality of their faith> and the 
sincerity of their love, loyalty, and natural affection. 

" As this duty is acceptable to God, so has it been the prac- 
tice of his church and people, not only under the Old, but also 
under the New Testament; nor merely in the primitive ages of 
Christianity, but also by the late reformed churches of Germany 
and the Low Countries, and likewise by our own noble and 
christian progenitors, when their religion and civil liberties 
were endangered by the power and influence of antichrist. The 
great defect attending their endeavours, however, was, that 
they did not proceed to the full extent warranted by the word 
of truth; which, had they done, the corruptions and calamities 
of these times might have been greatly prevented. To fill up 
what was wanting in our forefathers, has, however, been re- 
served for the honour and happiness of us their children; and 
if the Lord shall be pleased to move, to loose, and enlarge the 
hearts of his people, in his majesty's dominions, to take this co- 
venant, not in lukewarmness or dissimulation, but as becometh 
the people of God, it will prove the means of preventing many 
heart-rending scenes of misery, and be a copious source of rich 
and numerous blessings, both spiritual and temporal, to our- 
selves, our little ones, and their posterity, to many generations. 

" The near and neighbouring example of the church and 
kingdom of Scotland, is, in this case, worthy of our particular 
observation. When the prelates in that kingdom, by their 
rents and lordly dignities, by their exorbitant power over all 
sorts of his majesty's subjects, ministers, and even magistrates; 
by their places in parliament, council, college of justice, ex- 
chequer, and high commission, had grown to such enormous 
dominion and greatness, that, like giants, they set their one foot 
on the neck of the church, and the other on the neck of the 
state, and, with unparalleled insolence and effrontery, trampled 
upon the rights of the nation, in defiance of reason, religion, or 
law, till the people groaned beneath the unsupportable weight 
of their oppression; so that they chose rather to die than live 
in a state of such inhuman debasement, or to live in any part of 
the world rather than in the land that gave them birth. Then 
did the Lord arise, and say, < I have seen, I have seen the afflic- 
tions of my people — I have heard their groanings, and I am 

25 4 2 



674 MEMOIR OF 

come down to deliver them.' The beginnings were small and 
contemptible in the eyes of their proud and presumptuous ene- 
mies, such indeed as used to be the beginnings of God's great- 
est works; but followed up by indubitable evidences of divine 
direction, they were led from one step to another, till their 
mountain became strong. No tongue can express what emo- 
tions filled the hearts, what tears of joy poured from the eyes, 
and what expressions of wonder and amazement fell from the 
lips of thousands in that distressed land, when they found an 
unwonted flame warming their dejected bosoms, and perceived 
the power of almighty God raising them, as it were, from the 
dead, and creating for them a new world, wherein should dwell 
truth, religion, and righteousness. 

" When destitute both of money and munition, which, next 
to the spirit and arms of men, are the undoubted sinews of war, 
the Lord supplied them out of his hid treasures; which was 
wonderful in their own eyes, and matter of astonishment to their 
enemies. When they were many times at a pause in their de- 
liberations, and so perplexed that they knew not what to choose 
or refuse, only that their eyes were towards God, not only the 
fears and fury, but even the plots and policy of their adversa- 
ries pointed their way; so that the devices of their enemies re- 
coiled on their own heads, and served to accelerate the work 
of God. The purity of their intentions, elevated above all 
earthly considerations, and the conscious rectitude and peace of 
their hearts, supported them against the malicious accusations, 
aspersions, and misrepresentations of their enraged enemies; all 
which were sensible manifestations of the good providence of 
God, and legible characters of his favourable interference — 
such as the church and kingdom of England, exercised at this 
time with still greater difficulties, have already found in part, 
and shall undoubtedly find completed, to their great satisfaction 
in the faithful prosecution of the work now before us. Neces- 
sity, which possesseth a kind of sovereignty, that raiseth it above 
all law, and is therefore said to have no law, does mightily 
press upon the church and kingdom of Scotland at the present 
time. It is no small comfort, however, that they have neither 
been idle nor unconcerned at the dangers that threatened their 
own, or the church and kingdom of England; but have used all 
good and lawful expedients to extinguish the flaming combus- 
tion that rages in this kingdom, by their supplications, remon- 
strances, and declarations to his majesty; and after all these 
means were found ineffectual, by sending commissioners to his 
majesty, humbly offering their mediation in restoring order and 
tranquillity. But their humble offer of service has been rejected, 
on the ground that they had no warrant or capacity for such 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 675 

an interference, and that the intermixture of the government of 
the church of England, with that of the state, was a mystery of 
which they could he no competent judges. The fact, however, 
that the eighth demand of the treaty, and the answer given to 
that demand, with respect to the uniformity of religion, evi- 
dently afforded them a full and sufficient ground of capacity; 
while the proceedings of both Houses of this Parliament, against 
episcopal government, wherein it was declared a stumbling 
block, lying in the path of church reformation, and equally pre- 
judicial to the best interesls of the state, sufficiently furnished 
them with all the necessary means of information. But not- 
withstanding that these, and many other arguments, were stated 
in answer to their pretended reasons of objection, our commis- 
sioners were insulted, and recalled by a disgusted nation, with- 
out effecting any part of their pacific mission. In the mean- 
time, the miseries of Ireland, the distresses of England, and the 
dangers and pressure upon the kingdom of Scotland, were daily 
accumulating, while his majesty had refused to call or suffer a 
parliament to be called. In this state of fear and perplexity, 
those entrusted with the public concerns of the kingdom, found 
themselves under the necessity of reverting to the practice of 
former times, by calling a convention of the estates, for consi- 
dering the disorders of the country, and applying the most 
ostensible remedies. 

" This convention were scarcely met together, when, by the 
good providence of God, several plots and conspiracies of the 
papists, in different parts of the three kingdoms, were discover- 
ed and laid before them; and by the same good providence, 
commissioners were sent from both Houses of this Parliament, 
to consider, with the estates of the kingdom of Scotland, such 
articles and propositions as might render the conjunction be- 
tween the two nations more beneficial and effectual in securing 
religion and liberty against the attempts of papists and pre- 
lates, with their numerous train of adherents. Their consul- 
tations with the general assembly, at this time, brought forth a 
covenant; and considering this the only remaining remedy, after 
every thing else had been essayed in vain, they yielded to the 
manifold necessity, which nature, religion, loyalty, and love, 
had imposed upon them. 

" Nor is it unknown in this honourable, reverend, and wise 
audience, what errors in doctrine, what superstition in worship, 
what usurpation and intolerable tyranny in government, and 
what cruelty has been set on foot, exercised, and executed 
against both the souls and bodies of the saints, for many ge- 
nerations, and now again stimulated by the rising expec- 
tations of the church of Rome; all which, we sincerely hope, 



676 MEMOIR OF 

and are persuaded, by the blessing of God on the solemn 
work of this day, will soon be arrested in its mad career of ma- 
lignity, and the disciples of Jesus permitted to lead quiet and 
peaceable lives, in all godliness and honesty. Had the pope of 
Rome the knowledge of what is going forward this day in Eng- 
land, and were this covenant written on the plaster of the wall 
over against him where he sits, Belshazzar-like, surrounded 
with his minions, in sacrilegious splendour — his heart would 
tremble within him, his countenance grow pale, the mitre would 
shake on his head, and his knees smite one against another; 
while his prelates and cardinals, the agents of his heaven-dar- 
ing arrogance, would stand transfixed in dumb amazement and 
motionless astonishment. 

" The reformed churches, who, by their letters, have been 
exciting us to christian communion, sympathy, and the united 
defence of our common religion, when they shall hear of our 
blessed conjunction, our uniform religion, and our united exer- 
tions in its defence — it will revive their drooping and desponding 
souls, dispel the fears and gloomy apprehensions that oppress 
their spirits, and be to them the happy commencement of a 
jubilee, and joyful deliverance from the power and accursed 
yoke of antichristian tyranny. From these, and similar consi- 
derations, we are very confident that the church and kingdom 
of Scotland will most cheerfully join in this solemn covenant, 
at the first motion of which their bowels were moved within 
them. And that we may give testimony to this our confidence, 
we, who are commissioners from the general assembly,, although 
we have no particular and express commission to that effect 
(not, however, for want of willingness, but for want of fore- 
sight), willingly offer to join it with our whole hearts and 
hands, in the confident assurance, that the Lord, in his own 
time, in spite of all opposition from earth or hell, will crown it 
with a blessing from heaven : That it is agreeable to the word 
of God, and sanctioned by the church, both in the Old and the 
New Economy of Grace, you have seen resolved by the consent 
and testimony of a reverend assembly of godly, learned, and 
great divines; and as the word of God, so the prayers of the 
people of God, in all the reformed churches, are in our behalf. It 
were more terrible than an host of armed papists, to hear that 
there were many fervent supplications poured out to God 
against our proceedings. There are, indeed, blasphemies, 
curses, and horrid imprecations, in great abundance, from ano- 
ther quarter, levelled against our proceedings; but if God be 
with us, who can hope to succeed in opposing the promising 
operation of this solemn transaction : That divine providence, 
which hath hitherto maintained this cause, and supported his 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 677 

servants in promoting it, and hath kept matters in an equal bal- 
ance and alternate success, will, we trust, from this day forth, 
cast the balance through the weight of this covenant; so that 
religion and righteousness shall prevail, to the glory of God, 
the honour of the king, the confusion of the enemies of the 
truth, and the comfort and safety of the people of God; all 
which may HE grant, who is able to do exceedingly above and 
beyond what we can either ask or conceive." 

Mr Henderson having concluded his speech, Mr Nye, who 
had been appointed by the assembly to read the oath and cove- 
nant to the intending covenanters, began with an impressive 
exhortation — which, as it has been greatly admired, and being 
so intimately connected with the solemnity of this memorable 
transaction, we present it to the reader at large. 

" A great and solemn work, honourable and reverend, has 
this day been put into our hands. It becomes us, therefore, 
to stir up and awaken our hearts to its magnitude and import- 
ance. Here we have to deal with God as well as with men, 
and with God in his greatness and excellency; for by him we 
swear. We have, at the same time, to deal with God in his 
goodness and tender compassion, who now stretcheth out a 
strong and seasonable arm for our assistance. We are met to- 
gether this day, to exalt and acknowledge him who is fearful in 
praises; to swear by that name which alone is holy and reve- 
rend; to enter into a covenant and league never to be forgotten 
by us, nor by our posterity; and such an oath, as, for the mat- 
ter of it, the persons concerned, and the circumstances attend- 
ing it, has not been in any age of which we read, either in sa- 
cred or human story, yet sufficiently warranted in both; and I 
trust the fruits and blessed consequences of this solemn transac- 
tion shall be so abundant, that the present and many succeed- 
ing generations will have cause to remember it with unspeak- 
able joy. 

" The persons engaging in this league are three kingdoms, fa- 
mous for the knowledge and the acknowledgment of Christ above 
all the kingdoms of the world. To swear before such a pre- 
sence, should mould the spirit of a man, one would think, into 
a great deal of reverence; but how much more to be engaged, 
to be incorporated, and that by the solemnity of an oath, with 
such an high and honourable fraternity. An oath is to be 
esteemed so much the more solemn, by how much greater the 
persons are who swear. As in heaven, when God swears to his 
Son; on earth, when kings swear to one another; so in the 
business before us, where three kingdoms, in the presence of 
God, angels, and men, mutually bind themselves to God and 
one another — how great, how sacred must be the obligation ? 



678 MEMOIR OF 

" And as the solemnity of an oath is to be measured by the 
character of the persons swearing, so also by the matter sworn 
to. God would not swear to the covenant of works. It was 
not to continue, and he would not honour it with his oath. 
But to the covenant of grace, which is the gospel, he swears, 
and repents not. He swears for the salvation of men and of 
kingdoms. And if kingdoms swear to God, and one another, 
what oath can better become them than one for their respective 
preservation and salvation, by establishing amongst them the 
kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is a me- 
diator for kingdoms as well as for individuals? 

« As the oath itself, and the matters sworn to, are both great 
and honourable, so also is the end and purpose of these great, 
these honourable transactions. Two are better than one, saith 
he, who best knoweth what is best, and from whom every thing 
hath its goodness and utility. Association is the offspring of 
divine wisdom, not only the formation of creatures, but their 
classification also; the cluster, as well as the grape, are the do- 
ings of him, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in work- 
ing. Concord and harmony among men, and especially among 
the saints, are highly pleasing in the sight of God; and if the 
united resolves of two or three, who meet in the name of Christ, 
shall be confirmed in heaven, how much more when two or three 
kingdoms meet together, and consent in his name, that God may 
be one, and his name one amongst them, and that his pre- 
sence may be in the midst of them. That churches and kingdoms 
are near to God, and dear in his sight, his patience towards 
them, and his compassion over them more than individuals, suf- 
ficiently testify. But kingdoms, voluntarily engaging them- 
selves for his kingdom, for his saints and subjects, for the pu- 
rity of his religion, his worship and government, and with all 
humility sitting at his feet to receive the law from his mouth — 
What a price does he set upon such kingdoms, especially when 
sensible of their weakness and infirmity, of their unfaithful 
hearts, lest they should be unstedfast with their God, and start 
from his cause whenever they feel the knife or the fire ! They 
bind themselves, as we do this day, a willing sacrifice, with cords, 
to the horns of the altar. What is the import of this solemn en- 
gagement ? What is it we vow ? Is it not, that we endeavour, 
so far as the Lord shall assist us by his grace, to preserve reli- 
gion where it is reformed, and promote reformation where it is 
necessary ? Is it not the reformation of three kingdoms ? A re- 
formation universal in respect of doctrine, discipline, and wor- 
ship, in whatsoever the word of God shall discover unto us — 
and an endeavour, in our several capacities, to advance the 
Redeemer's kingdom here upon earth, that Jerusalem may yet 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 679 

become, notwithstanding the contradiction of men, the praise 
of the whole earth ? To practise, is a fruit of love; to reform, 
a fruit of zeal; but so to reform will require great prudence and 
circumspection in each of these churches. The reformation of 
religion must be conducted according to God's word, the best 
rule — and according to the best reformed churches, the best in- 
terpreters of this rule. If England has attained to any greater 
perfection in handling the word of righteousness, and the doc- 
trine that is according to godliness, so as it make men more 
godly and more righteous; or if, in the churches of Scotland, 
there be any more light and beauty in matters of order and dis- 
cipline, whereby their assemblies are more orderly; or if to any 
other church or individual it has been given, better to have 
learned Christ, in any of his ways, than any or all of us — we 
shall humbly bow, and kiss their lips, that can speak right 
words to us in this matter, and help us to the nearest conformi- 
ty to the word and mind of Christ in this great work of reform- 
ation. 

" Honourable and reverend brethren, There cannot be a more 
direct and effectual way to exhort and persuade the wise, and 
men of serious spirits, such as they to whom I am commanded 
to speak on this occasion, than to let into their understandings 
the weight, the worth, and great importance of the work they 
have thus undertaken to perform. This oath, in the matter 
and consequences of it, is of such concernment, that I can truly 
say, it is worthy of us, it is worthy of all these kingdoms, yea, 
of all the kingdoms of the world; for it is swearing fealty and 
allegiance to the King of kings, and a giving up all these king- 
doms, which are portions of his large inheritance, to be subdued 
more to his throne, and to be ruled more by his sceptre, in the 
increase of whose government and peace there shall be no end. 
This we find, in its utmost accomplishment, to have been the 
oath of the angel, who, setting his feet on two of God's king- 
doms, the one on the sea, and the other on the earth, and lift- 
ing his hand towards heaven, as you are to do this day, so 
swearing, that the kingdoms of this world are become the king- 
doms of our Lord and of his Christ, and that he shall reign for 
ever. His oath regards the full accomplishment; ours the means 
and measures conducive to that glorious event. 

" That which the apostles and primitive saints so long and 
devoutly prayed for; that which our fathers, in latter times, 
have fasted, prayed, and mourned after, but attained not; even 
the cause which many dear saints, now triumphing with their 
Redeemer in heavenly glory, promoted by sufferings the most 
extreme, poverty, imprisonment, banishment, and death, ever 
since the dawn of the reformation — that is the identical cause 



680 MEMOIR OF 

and work which, through the mercy of Jesus Christ, we are 
now assembled, not only to pray for, but to swear to. And sure- 
ly it must be the answer and happy result of so many prayers 
and tears, of so much sincerity and suffering, that three king- 
doms should be thus born in one day, and brought about to such 
an engagement, that nothing on earth can be greater; for to 
this end kings reign, kingdoms exist, and states and empires are 
upheld. 

" It is a special grace and favour of God, brethren, reverend 
and honourable, that he hath vouchsafed you an opportunity, 
and put it into your hearts, as this day, to embark your lives 
and estates in a cause so closely connected with his glory. And 
should you only lay the foundation stone of this great work, 
and thereby engage posterity to raise the superstructure, it were 
honour enough. But you are designed as master-builders, and 
choice instruments for effecting a settled peace and thorough 
reformation in these kingdoms; which, if the Lord shall please 
to finish in your hands, a greater happiness on earth, or a 
greater means of augmenting your glory in heaven, you are not 
capable of; and let me add, for your further encouragement, 
that God has set his covenant like the heavens, not merely for 
duration, but also for extension. The heavens move, and roll 
about, and so communicate their light, and heat, and virtue, to 
all places and departments of the earth — such is this covenant. 
How much this solemn league and covenant may provoke other 
reformed churches to a farther reformation, and what light and 
heat it may communicate abroad to other parts of the world, is 
only for him to declares, whose inheritance is the uttermost ends 
of the earth, and whose almighty power can, from the smallest, 
and apparently the most inefficient means, produce the most 
astonishing results. 

" But however this may be, one thing I am sure of, that this 
is a method of procedure, which, in all probability, will enable 
us to preserve and defend our religion and liberties against our 
common enemies, and perhaps a better foundation for over- 
throwing popery and prelacy — the chief of these enemies — will be 
laid this day, than has ever been resorted to by our fathers in 
any age of the church. With regard to popery, it has been a 
religion ever dexterous in fencing and mounting itself by joint 
strength and association. All its professors are cast into fra- 
ternities and brotherhoods; and these orders, carefully united, 
and bound together by vows one with another; even the states 
and kingdoms, which in this way they have bound to the papal 
throne, they endeavour to improve, and secure by strict com- 
binations amongst themselves. Witness, of late years, their 
La sainte Hgue, or holy league. Nay, the very rise of popery 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 681 

seems to have been effected in this way by kings; that is, king- 
doms assenting and agreeing (perhaps by some joint covenant — 
the text says, with one mind — why not then with one mouth ?) to 
give their power to the beast, and make war against the Lamb — 
Where you also read, that the Lamb shall, overcome them; and 
it may not be unworthy of your consideration, whether this 
triumph may not possibly be effected by the same weapons. 
He is King of kings, and Lord of lords. He can therefore 
unite kings and kingdoms, and by giving them one mind and 
one mouth, thus destroy the whore, and be her utter ruin. And 
may not this day's work be the happy beginning of such a 
blessed termination. 

" Prelacy, another common enemy that we covenant and 
swear against — What is it ? or what has it been ? but a subtle 
combination of the clergy, formed into a policy or body of their 
own invention, framing themselves into subordination and de- 
pendence on one another; so that the interest of each is improv- 
ed by all, and a great power by these means acquired to them- 
selves; of which we have lately had the woeful experience. 
The joints and members of this body, you all know, are knit 
together by the sacred engagement of an oath — the oath of ca- 
nonical obedience, as they call it. You remember also with 
what cunning industry they endeavoured lately to make this 
oath and covenant more subservient to their own interest, and 
that of their posterity, by rendering it a more public, solemn, 
and universal engagement, than this cause of theirs has ever 
been supported by since the days of popery; and had they suc- 
ceeded in their purpose, Scotland and Ireland must unquestion- 
ably have been brought at last into this holy league with Eng- 
land. But blessed be God, and blessed be his good hand, the 
parliament that, from the indignation of their spirits against 
so horrid a yoke, have dashed out the very brains of this detest- 
able project, and are now this day present before the Lord to 
receive this blessed ordinance, even an oath and covenant as 
solemn and as extensive as they intended theirs — uniting these 
three kingdoms in such a league and happy combination, as 
will doubtless preserve us and our reformation from their power 
and malignity, though the mystery of their iniquity should still 
continue working amongst us. Come, therefore, I speak in the 
words of the prophet, < Let us join ourselves to the Lord, and 
one to another, and each to all, in a perpetual covenant never 
to be forgotten.' 

" We are now entering upon a work of the first importance 
to us, and our posterity after us — a work in which the present 
and following generations are more deeply interested, than in 
any that has at any time been undertaken by us, or any of our 

25 4 r 



682 MEMOIR OF 

progenitors before us, or by any of the nations around us. If 
the Lord shall be pleased to bless this our beginning, it will be 
a happy day, and we shall be a happy people. An oath is a 
duty of the first commandment, and therefore one of the noblest 
order and rank of duties, and ought to come forth attended 
with the choicest graces, especially with humility and reveren- 
tial fear — fear, not merely of God, which we ought to possess 
in an eminent degree, but also the fear of an oath, which is a 
most solemn duty, established by no less authority than the oath 
of God himself. <I have sworn (saith the Lord), that unto me 
every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear.' Jacob 
swore by the fear of his father Isaac, as if he had coveted his 
father's grace, as well as his father's God; and this is the ge- 
nuine character of a saint of God, he fears an oath. Humility 
is another requisite grace — Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, 
and serve him, and swear by his name. The apostle Paul was 
sensible of this engagement, even in the very act of his duty. 
6 1 call God to witness (says he), whom I serve with my spirit 
in the gospel of his Son.' Although it be a work of the lips, 
yet must the heart be engaged, and all the faculties of the soul 
interested in the performance, if we expect our services to be 
acceptable to God. ' Accept the free-will offerings of my mouth, 
(saith the Psalmist), and teach me thy judgments.' It must 
also be gone about in all the plainness, simplicity, and sincerity 
of our souls. In this solemn work we call God to witness, be- 
twixt us and our brethren, with whom we covenant — God, the 
searcher of hearts, whose eye penetrates the darkest recesses of 
Our souls, and in whose sight both the deceived and the deceiver 
stand naked and exposed. If our hearts be not right towards 
our brethren — with God is wisdom and strength; wisdom to dis- 
cover our hypocrisy, and strength to punish it. There ought not 
to be so much as a wish or desire that the words of our cove- 
nant should become snares — no, not to the weakest of our 
brethren that join with us; they are to be considered as bonds 
of unity in prosecuting and defending this great and necessary 
work of reformation, as cords of love and social affection, to 
cheer up and encourage one another to every good work. On 
the whole, let the same fear and jealousy impress your spirits 
on this great occasion, which influenced Jacob in a very critical 
and important concern. s My Father (says he) peradventure 
will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver, and I shall 
bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.' 

" I take the liberty more earnestly to press this caution upon 
your minds, because oaths and covenants have, on former occa- 
sions, been entered into, the fruit whereof, though great, yet 
eame short of our expectation. The Lord hath surely been dis- 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 683 

pleased with the slight impression these solemn transactions 
made upon our hearts. Be more watchful, I beseech you, and 
stir up j'our whole souls this day. Consider, that as this is the 
last oath you are likely ever to take of this kind, so is it our 
last refuge, Tabulce post Naufragium. If this last remedy fail, 
through our insincerity and unstedfastness, we are likely to re- 
main, to our dying day, an unhappy people; but if you will in- 
deed swear with all your hearts, and seek the Lord with your 
whole desire, God will be found, and give you rest from all 
your enemies round about. But having, with due reverence, 
humility, plainness, and godly sincerity, sworn and entered into 
this solemn engagement to God and man, your work is by 
no means finished — you must make conscience of performing 
the various duties this solemn transaction imposes upon you, 
otherwise it had been better not to have vowed, Eccl. v. As it 
is said of fasting, it is not the hanging down of the head for a 
day; so of this solemn swearing, it is not the lifting up of the 
hand for a day, but an honest endeavour to perform the requi- 
sitions of this covenant all our days. A truce breaker, you 
know, is classed among the vilest of christians, Tim. iii. 3.; so a 
covenant breaker is ranked with the worst of heathens, Rom. i. 
31 — while he that sweareth, and changeth not, though the 
contents of his oath should prove even hurtful to his individual 
interest, such an one shall have his habitation with the most 
high, and dwell in his tabernacle. And as for you, my reverend 
brethren, who are ministers of the gospel, there is yet another 
obligation especially imposed upon you. Let us take heed to 
ourselves, that our walk and conversation correspond with this 
our covenant engagement. What a dishonourable reflection 
it must throw on the truth of the gospel, should we be found 
to waver and prove careless and lukewarm in any word, part, 
or purpose of this our oath, were it even in matters of minor 
importance, you can easily collect from that apology of Paul, 
2 Cor. i. 17, 18.; and how much more in such a case as this, 
should we be found to purpose, nay more, even to vow, cove- 
nant, and swear, and notwithstanding of all this, to start aside, 
fall back, or go on unbecomingly in this solemn undertaking ! 

" That we may, all of us, who take the covenant this day, be 
constant and immoveable, always abounding in this blessed 
work of the Lord, there is a twofold grace or qualification 
indispensable, and to be earnestly sought after. 1st, We must 
get courage, and pursue the ends of our engagement with in* 
flexible resolution. It is said, in the prophecy of Haggai, that 
the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, 
and the spirit of Joshua the high-priest, and the spirit of all the 
remnant of the people, and they came and did work in the house 



684< MEMOIR OF 

of the Lord. The work of God's house, reformation work in 
particular, has ever been a stirring work. Read the history of 
the church of God from the beginning, and you shall not find, 
in any age or country, that any significant reformation was at 
any time effected, either in doctrine or discipline, without great 
stir and opposition. This was foretold by the same prophet, 
chap. ii. ver. 7. The promise is, he will fill his house with glory : 
But mark what goes before, in verse 6th, < Yet a little while, and 
I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry 
land' — denoting the nations of the earth, with all their diversified 
degrees of classification. The same place is applied, Heb. xii. 
to the removing of the Jewish rites, their ceremonial law, the 
moveables of God's house. In the apostles' times, you will also 
find, that the gospel being preached, some believed, and some 
believed not. Hence the stir commences, verse 6th, Those who 
believed not, took unto themselves certain lewd fellows of the 
baser sort, and having gathered a company, set all the city in 
an uproar, and then charged the brethren with the disturbance 
themselves had created. These are the men, say they, who 
turn the world upside down ! In such a work, therefore, we 
have need of courageous, composed, and persevering spirits, 
that we may not be struck with fear and amazement at the 
noisy proceedings of our enemies; but by shaking off all 
drowsiness and timidity, press forward, with well-directed ex- 
ertions, unappalled by all the din, bluster, and opposition that 
may surround us. Nay, it is not impossible, that even amongst 
ourselves there may be outcries in abundance. * Sir, you will 
undo all (says one).' ' You will put every thing into confusion 
(says another).' ' If you proceed in this course (says a third), 
we can expect nothing but blood.' But a wise statesman, like 
an experienced mariner, knows the compass of his vessel; and 
though it heave and be tossed by the wind and the waves, 
while the affrighted passengers cry out, all will be lost, still he 
keeps the possession of himself, attends to his proper work, and 
steers his course onward to the desired haven. 

" If you are determined in your hearts to <Io any such work 
in the house of God as this, if you mean to pluck up what has 
many years ago been planted, to build up what was then cast 
down, and go through this difficult service with fearless intre- 
pidity and unrelinquishing perseverance, you must pray the 
Lord of the house to furnish you with this excellent, this active 
and enterprising spirit, otherwise you will be outspirited by 
your opposers, and both yourselves, and the cause you have so 
warmly espoused, slighted and dishonoured. On the other 
hand, our zeal must be tempered with prudence, and our reso- 
lution and activity mingled with gentleness and humility. A 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 685 

man may be very zealous in prosecuting a good cause, and at 
the same time both meek and merciful. Jesus Christ was both 
a Lion and a Lamb. He tells us, c That he came to send fire 
on the earth;' and on another occasion, he rebukes his disciples 
for their fiery spirit, saying, < The Son of man came not to de- 
stroy men's lives, but to save.' Such also were the tempers 
and compositions of Moses and Paul; and similar dispositions 
will be found highly profitable to us in this work of reforma- 
tion. I have never observed any disputes carried on with more 
bitterness and ill-natured animosity in men's writings, nor with 
more unsanctified heat of spirit, yea, and by godly men too, 
than in those controversies relating to discipline, church govern- 
ment, and ceremonies. Surely to dispute concerning govern- 
ment with such ungoverned passions, and argue for reformation 
with a spirit so unreformed, is of all uncomely things the most 
uncomely. Let us be zealous, as Christ was, to cast out all, to 
extirpate and root out every plant that his heavenly Father 
hath not planted; and yet let this be effected in an orderly man- 
ner, and in the spirit of Christ, whose servants we are. For 
the servant of Christ must not strive, but be gentle to all men, 
apt to teach, and patient, in meekness instructing such as op- 
pose, 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25. We solemnly engage this day to use 
our utmost endeavours for reformation ; but let us remember, 
that too much heat, as well as too much coldness, in prosecut- 
ing this great undertaking, may harden men in their ways, and 
retard our progress in rectifying the disorders of the house of 
God. 

" Brethren, let us proceed to this blessed work with such a 
frame of spirit, with such a mind for the present, and with such 
resolutions for the time to come. Let us not be wanting to the 
opportunity God has this day put into our hands, and then I 
can say with the prophet, ' Consider this day and upwards, 
even from this day, that the foundation of the Lord's work is 
laid — consider it; for from this day will I bless you, saith the 
Lord.' Nay, we have received as it were the first-fruits of this 
promise already. It is said of some men's good works, that 
they are manifest beforehand; even so may it be said of the 
good work of this day. God hath as it were beforehand testi- 
fied his acceptance. While we were thinking and proposing 
this freewill offering, he was protecting and defending our 
army, causing our enemies, the enemies of this good work, to 
flee before us, and has given us a victory by no means to be 
despised. Surely this oath and covenant shall be Judah's joy, 
the joy and comfort of this whole kingdom, yea, of all the 
three kingdoms, and matter of rejoicing to all the reformed 
churches. * 



686 MEMOIR OF 

"Jesus Christ, King of the saints, govern us by his Spirit, 
strengthen us by his power, undertake for us according as he 
hath sworn, even the oath which he sware to our fathers, that 
he would grant unto us, that we, being delivered out of the 
hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness 
and righteousness before him all the days of our lives. Grant 
unto us also, that when we are gathered to our fathers, our 
children after us may stand up in the defence of this cause, and 
enjoy its manifold blessings, that his great and reverend name 
may be honoured and exalted, till he himself shall come and 
perfect all by his own wisdom and power. Even so, come, 
Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen." 

Having thus concluded his exhortation, Mr Nye read the 
form of the oath and covenant; which having done, all the 
members of the House of Commons, and those of the Assembly 
of Divines, stood up, with their right hands raised, and un- 
covered, while Mr Nye, with great solemnity, again read over 
the form of the obligation; after which the solemn service of this 
remarkable day was concluded with prayer. 

But we return to Mr Henderson, who, as a member of the 
assembly, greatly distinguished himself by the solidity of his 
arguments in favour of a thorough reformation; but particularly 
in pressing upon the members the beauty, order, and utility of 
a presbyterian form of church government, to the establishment 
of which, his talents and exertions contributed to no small de- 
gree. His deportment was grave, and well becoming the dig- 
nity of a representative of the church. He discovered a con- 
scientious uprightness in all his designs, his opinions were 
therefore regarded with great deference, and his influence 
was very considerable. When it became necessary to vin- 
dicate the principles of the church of Scotland, or any of 
the reformed presbyterian churches, he discovered, by his 
speeches, how well he understood their doctrine and discipline, 
and how able he was to defend them; but his rare abilities were 
peculiarly displayed in reconciling contending interests, and 
maintaining harmony amongst the members. Being a thorough 
presbyterian, nothing proposed in the assembly, at variance 
with that system, could pass without his determined opposition. 
Hence he stood equally opposed to independency and erastian 
supremacy, which were pressed on the assembly by men of 
the first talents and erudition, and greatly befriended by their 
respective parties in both Houses of Parliament. 

In the beginning of the year 1645, Mr Henderson was ap- 
pointed, by the parliament, to assist their commissioners in the 
treaty between them and the king at Uxbridge. The parlia- 
mentary commissioners were* instructed to demand the abolition 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 687 

of episcopacy, and the ratification of the presbyterian church 
government. The king's commissioners opposed this demand; 
upon which it was agreed to hear the divines on both sides. 
Mr Henderson opened the proceedings in a speech, which even 
Lord Clarendon acknowledges was not destitute of eloquence. 
He took up the ground which he conceived was best calculated 
for bringing the dispute to an early conclusion, and waving 
the lawfulness of episcopacy, he said, " The question before 
them was, not whether episcopal government was lawful, but 
whether it was so necessary that Christianity could not subsist 
without it?" He argued that it was not, and that such an 
affirmation could not be made without condemning all other 
reformed churches : That the English parliament had found 
episcopacy a very inconvenient and corrupt government : That 
the hierarchy had been a public grievance from the reformation 
downwards : That the bishops had always encouraged popery, 
and had retained many of her superstitious rites and customs in 
their worship and government; and that they had lately made 
an obvious approximation to the Romish communion, to the great 
scandal of the protestant churches of Germany, France, Scot- 
land, and Holland : That the prelates had embroiled the whole 
of the British islands, and kindled the flame which then 
raged throughout the three kingdoms : That for these reasons, 
the parliament had resolved to change this inconvenient and 
mischief-making government, and set up another, more natu- 
rally formed for the promotion of piety and christian fellowship, 
in its place; and that this proposed alteration was the best ex- 
pedient that could be resorted to, for extinguishing the remains 
of popery, and uniting the protestant churches and states in 
christian amity, and in the defence of their religious principles 
and civil rights; nor could he conceive how his majesty's con- 
science should feel opposed to such a salutary measure, after 
having already agreed to the suppression of prelacy in his king- 
dom of Scotland. 

But the advocates for episcopacy, aware that this plain mode 
of reasoning, adapted to the understanding of every person pos- 
sessed of ordinary good sense, would be too easily comprehend- 
ed by the people, they would not therefore hazard their cause 
upon such doubtful ground, but endeavoured to involve the 
question in a maze of learned obscurity, by introducing a ge- 
neral dispute respecting episcopal government. Dr. Stuart, the 
king's commissioner on the part of the church of England, en- 
larged on the apostolical institution of episcopacy, and endea- 
voured to prove, that without bishops the sacerdotal character 
could not be conveyed, nor the sacraments administered to any 
significancy — desiring, at the same time, that the controversy 



688 MEMOIR OF 

might be maintained syl logistical ly, as became scholars. To 
this Mr Henderson readily agreed. The dispute was long and 
close; and although each party, as usual, claimed the victory, it 
was allowed by some of the auditors, who have never been con- 
sidered as prejudiced in favour of presbyterianism, that while 
Mr Henderson equalled the king's commissioners in learning, he 
surpassed them in modesty. The treaty was, however, broken 
off; and matters, in place of being mended, became worse and 
worse. The king's affairs, after being a considerable time on 
the decline, were totally ruined in the spring of 1646; and he 
finding no other outgate, threw himself into the Scottish army, 
which retired with him to Newcastle. When he arrived there, 
he sent for Mr Henderson, being his chaplain, to attend him. 

In the present ruined state of the king's affairs, the increas- 
ing strength of the parliamentary forces, and the popularity of 
their claims, the only measure likely to settle the war, and re- 
store the king to the exercise of his authority, seemed to be his 
acquiescence in the measures proposed by the parliament, 
namely, to take the covenant, and abolish the hierarchy, and 
ratify a presbyterian government in the churches of both king- 
doms. Mr Henderson was considered the best qualified for 
dealing with the king in this delicate concern; and notwith- 
standing his ill state of health, he complied with the king's re- 
quest, and the entreaties of his fellow-commissioners. Accord- 
ingly, .arriving at Newcastle about the middle of May? he re- 
ceived a kind welcome from his majesty; but soon perceived 
that he was determined not to comply with the requisitions of 
his parliament. The king signified, that he could not, in con- 
science, consent to the abolition of episcopacy, and proposed 
that Mr Henderson should carry on a dispute with some epis- 
copal divines, a list of whose names he gave him. This, how- 
ever, Mr Henderson declined, as a business he had no authority 
to undertake, and as little reason to expect when he complied 
with his majesty's request of coming to Newcastle. " Besides 
(said he), such disputations have seldom had any good effect in 
ending controversies; and in the present state of your majesty's 
affairs, must be extremely prejudicial to your majesty's interest. 
All that I intended, says Mr Henderson elsewhere, was a free, 
yet modest declaration of the motives that induced me to dis- 
like and abandon episcopal government, in which I was bred 
in the university." It was therefore agreed, that the king's 
scruples should be discussed, in a series of papers, privately be- 
tween himself and Mr Henderson. These papers are eight in 
number, five by his majesty, and three by Mr Henderson, from 
some time in May till the 16th of July. 

Mr Henderson apprised his majesty, on this occasion, of the 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 689 

great loss his cause had sustained, and was likely still farther 
to sustain, by exciting learned men to dispute on the power 
and prerogative of princes — subjects that, for the most part, 
were incapable of standing the light of critical investigation. 
But perceiving that he tenaciously adhered to opinions discard- 
ed by all the moderate episcopalians, and maintained by those 
only who were leading him to the brink of a precipice,* he de- 
clined entering farther into a fruitless contest. Mr Henderson, 
whose health was considerably impaired when he came to New- 
castle, grew much worse while he remained with the king. His 
constitution, worn down with incessant labour, the sorrow and 
anxiety that preyed upon his spirits, from the obvious infatua- 
tion and incurable obduracy of the king, increased his disorder; 
and considering his dissolution fast approaching, he resolved to 
return to Scotland. Before leaving Newcastle, he had an audi- 
ence of the king; where he again reminded him of the Very 
critical situation of his affairs, and his full conviction that 
nothing but his concurring with the claims of his parliament 
could restore his authority, and tranquillize the general ferment 
that pervaded every part of his dominions. Thus having dis- 
charged the duties of that employment which placed him about 
his majesty's person, he took his final farewell. He returned 
by sea, and arrived at Leith on the 11th of August 1646, very 
sick, and much exhausted. He continued so weak, that he was 
often unable to speak; but when able, he expressed himself 
much to the satisfaction of his brethren and christian acquaint- 
ances who visited him; and within eight days from his arrival 
in Scotland, he rested from his labours, on the 19th day of 
August 1646. 

In the course of examining his papers, there was found amongst 
them a short Confession of his Faith, written with his own 
hand, wherein he expresses his dying thoughts at this trying 
hour; and, amongst other things, declares, "That most of all 
he was indebted to the free grace and goodness of God, who 
had called him to the faith of the promises, and had exalted him 
to preach them to his fellow-sinners, and to be a willing, though 
weak, instrument in promoting this wonderful work of reform- 
ation ; which he prayed the Lord to bring to a happy termina- 
tion." Mr Livingston, in his Characteristics at the end of his 
life, declares, " That he was present at his death, and saw him 
expire in great peace and comfort." And Mr Baillie says, 
" He died as he lived, in great modesty, faith, and piety." His 
mortal remains were interred in the Gray^friar's church-yard, 
Edinburgh. Having no family of his own, his nephew, Mr 
George Henderson, performed the last kind offices of humanity 
to his mortal part, and erected a monument, with appropriate 

25 4 s 



690 MEMOIR OF 

inscriptions, which testify how very highly he was esteemed by 
all classes, both in Scotland and England, by whom his death 
was greatly lamented. After the restoration of king Charles, 
when every species of indignity was done to the reformation, and 
to those who were active in promoting it, the earl of Middle- 
ton, the king's commissioner, procured an order of parliament, 
in July 1662, for disfiguring the monument, and erasing the 
inscriptions; but at the revolution the monument was repaired, 
and the inscriptions replaced, and it still stands entire on the 
south-west side of the Gray-friars church. It is a quadrangu- 
lar pillar, with an urn at the top. 

Mr Henderson having died soon after his conferences with 
the king, the episcopalians industriously circulated a report, 
that he was not only vanquished, but even converted by his 
royal antagonist — a report, however, that had not the least 
shadow of truth to support it, and which was keenly contra- 
dicted by all who had an opportunity of being well acquainted 
with Mr Henderson's sentiments at that time, and daring the 
short period of life after his return to Edinburgh. But all this 
was not sufficient; for about two years after his death, a de- 
claration, in his own name, made its appearance; in which he 
was represented as expressing great contrition for having ac- 
ceded to the proceedings of the presbyterians. This base for- 
gery was done by a Scottish episcopalian divine ; on the ap- 
pearance of which, the general assembly of the church of Scot- 
land called and examined those persons who were present along 
with Mr Henderson during his conferences with the king, and 
also several of those who were most conversant with him dur- 
ing the short period that elapsed from his return to Edinburgh 
till his death ; who unanimously declared, that he continued to 
the last unaltered in his sentiments. Upon this the assembly 
passed an act, declaring the said pamphlet forged, scandalous, 
and false, and the author and contriver of the same destitute of 
charity and a good conscience, a gross liar and calumniator, led 
by the spirit of the accuser of the brethren. Again, about the 
middle of the eighteenth century, this convicted forgery was 
credulously revived by Mr Ruddiman, who, notwithstanding 
his eminent learning, is known to have had the weakest preju- 
dices respecting jacobinism and episcopacy. His attempt was, 
however, triumphantly exposed by Mr Logan. Bishop Guthrie, 
in his Memoirs, page 24th, says, " Upon Mr Henderson all the 
ministers of the presbyterian persuasion depended; and no won- 
der, for in gravity, learning, wisdom, and state policy, he was 
by far their superior." Pinkerton calls him " The Franklin of 
the Scottish commotions." And Granger, a minister of the 
church of England, says concerning him, " Mr Henderson, the 



ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 691 

chief of the Scottish clergy in this reign, was learned, eloquent, 
polite, and perfectly versed in the knowledge of mankind. He 
was at the helm of affairs in the general assemblies of Scotland, 
and sent into England in the double capacity of a divine and. 
plenipotentiary. He knew how to rouse the people to war, or 
negotiate a peace. Whenever he preached, it was to crowded 
audiences; and when he pleaded or argued, he was regarded 
with the mutest attention." His parts and acquirements quali- 
fied him for acting in the most difficult situations either in 
church or state, and the circumstances of the times placed him 
in both; where his prudence, activity, and incorruptible inte- 
grity, commanded the universal approbation and gratitude of the 
covenanters, and excited even the admiration of his enemies. 
Called from his beloved retirement by the sufferings and neces- 
sity of his weeping country, pressed down by the power of am- 
bitious prelates, an arbitrary court, and corrupt statesmen, he 
entered upon the bustle of public affairs at a time of life when 
others think of retiring. Nor could the fatigue and anxiety, 
attending his difficult services, induce him to relinquish his sta- 
tion, till his shattered frame sunk beneath the burden of his 
labours, and he died a martyr to the cause he had so ably sup- 
ported. 

His unremitting labours, in the public concerns of the church 
and nation, left him little leisure to prepare works for the press. 
The public papers he drew up, however, point him out as one 
of the best writers of his time; and even his few sermons 
which have been published, though hastily written, amidst a 
multiplicity of diversified avocations, justify the reputation he 
had gained for this species of composition. As a public 
speaker, he was eloquent, judicious, and highly popular. His 
eloquence was easy, but impressive, grave, but fluent, like the 
motion of a deep river, that carries one insensibly along with 
it, rather than the rapidity of a dashing torrent; and few preach- 
ers have ever been better attended, or listened to with more 
watchful anxiety. 

RICHARD BAXTER. 

Amongst the countless number of human beings, who 
have succeeded one another on the bustling theatre of this 
world, acted their various parts and disappeared, how few have 
had their names and virtues transmitted to posterity. Even 
amongst those who have made the greatest figure in life, or had 
the greatest applause after their death, the far greater part have 
owed their distinction to the root from whence they sprung, to 
the fortunate circumstances of their lives, the influence and in- 
terest of their friends, and other external causes and happy co- 



692 MEMOIR OF 

incidents not to be accounted for; while the great mass of man- 
kind either pass off in unnoticed silence, or, having exercised 
their talents to the hurt of society, and the disgrace of humani- 
ty, are stigmatized, and hung up in the annals of human trans- 
actions for a terror to succeeding generations. There have, 
nevertheless, been in every age some few individuals, who, by 
their remarkable endowments, have broke through all the diffi- 
culties that stood in their way, and without the aid of paren- 
tage, patronage, or pecuniary resources, have, by their merito- 
rious exertions for the good of mankind, dissipated every cloud 
that envy or malice could raise to obscure their worth, and left 
behind them memorials to emblazon the annals of time. Such 
blessings have some men been to the world, that every attempt 
to detract from their merits has recoiled on their detractors, 
and marked them with indelible disgrace. 

In this distinguished class of individuals, Mr Richard Bax- 
ter, the subject of this memoir, holds a prominent place. His 
soul was too great for a useless or inactive life. His piety and 
integrity were too conspicuous to justify even a suspicion, that 
he could pervert his uncommon abilities, or use his great inter- 
est in promoting principles which his conscience did not allow. 
His origin was low, and his descent obscure. He had no exter- 
nal advantages to raise and distinguish him; but found his pro- 
gress opposed by a host of difficulties, some of them apparently 
insurmountable; yet his personal merit has procured him a 
name, which, while it eclipses the fame of his detractors, will 
outlive all their calumnies. 

He was born at Rowton, near high Ercal in Shropshire, on 
the 12th of November 1615, in the house of Richard Adency, 
his grand-father on the mother's side, where he spent his infan- 
cy, which was remarkable in nothing but a pious inclination. 
At the age of ten years he was taken home to his father's house 
at Eaton Constantine, a village about five miles from Shrews- 
bury, where he passed away his childhood and youth; which, 
upon after reflection, he found to correspond with the declara- 
tion of the wise man — " Childhood and youth are vanity." His 
father was a freeholder of Shropshire, who made no great figure 
in the world. His estate was small, and so encumbered with 
debt, that in order to clear it, he was shut up to the most par-f 
simonious economy. This circumstance prevented his son from 
receiving a regular and liberal education. For want of better 
instructors, he fell into the hands of the readers in the village 
where he resided. His teachers were both lewd and ignorant; 
for learning was in a very low and languishing state in that 
remote corner of the land at the period we are speaking of; nor 
could much improvement be expected from such ignorant and 



RICHARD BAXTER. 6Q3 

indifferent instructors. His greatest help, in grammatical 
learning, he received from Mr John Owen, master of the free- 
school at Wroxeter, with whom he continued till he had been 
for some time captain of his school, and advanced as far as he 
was qualified to forward him. 

No man could be more desirous of academical instruction; 
yet of this he was wholly deprived, in consequence of an obser- 
vation of Mr Owen's, when he was leaving his school, "That 
it might perhaps be better for him to go and live with Mr 
Wickstead, chaplain to the council at Ludlow, who had autho- 
rity from the king to keep one to attend him." Mr Baxter was 
exceeding sorrowful at the proposal; but his parents were so 
highly pleased to have their son so near at home, that he was 
obliged, though with great reluctance, to acquiesce. But Mr 
Wickstead was no great scholar himself; and though in other 
respects he used Mr Baxter well, he took no pains to instruct 
him; so that the only advantage he had in this place was the 
free use of an excellent library, and abundance of time to study; 
which he improved to the utmost of his power. Here, how- 
ever, he spent a year and a-half; and having returned to his 
father's house, he was soon after, at the request of Lord New- 
port, engaged to supply the place of Mr Owen, who had fallen 
into a consumption, of which he died. Strongly inclined to 
the ministry, he was. anxious to obtain the necessary qualifica- 
tions for that sacred office; and disappointed in his hopes of a uni- 
versity education, he now applied himself to a rigid course of 
study, under the direction of Mr Francis Garbett, minister of 
Wroxeter; and with his assistance, ran through a course of phi- 
losophy. His industry, at this time, was constant and severe; 
but the delicacy of his frame greatly retarded his progress. He 
endeavoured to manage his studies in divinity with the occa- 
sional advice of several neighbouring ministers, with whose 
help he was making hopeful progress, till a new motion was 
made, which had well nigh turned his thoughts to a very dif- 
ferent course of life. 

When about eighteen years of age, Mr Wickstead persuaded 
him to abandon all thoughts of the church, to leave the country 
for the court, and make interest for some office, by which he 
would have an opportunity of rising in the world. The thing 
was pleasing to his parents; and by their instigation, he came 
up to Whitehall, with a recommendation to Sir Henry Herbert, 
then master of the revels. He was courteously received, and 
kindly entertained; but found nothing desirable in a court life, 
but much that made him very uneasy; and in a month's time 
he resolved to leave those scenes of dissipation and courtly in- 
sincerity for the country, where he resumed his former course of 



69& MEMOIR OF 

studies; which he now prosecuted with more indefatigable ardour 
than can be well imagined, till, at the earnest solicitation of Mr 
Richard Foley of Stourbridge, he accepted the mastership of a 
free-school, which that gentleman had lately erected at Dudley, 
having an usher under him. By this time God had fitted him 
for great service in his church, by bringing him to more than 
ordinary seriousness. While teaching the free-school at Dud- 
ley, he read a variety of practical treatises; which were the 
means of impressing his mind with the importance of religion, 
to which he was not a little quickened by the weakness of his 
body, and a bad state of health, which he then believed would 
carry him off in less than a twelvemonth. 

We are informed by Dr. Calamy, " That from twenty-one to 
twenty-three years of age he was constantly under the apprehen- 
sion of death, and greatly exercised about the concerns of his 
soul; which created in him an earnest desire to instruct igno- 
rant, presumptuous, and profane persons in the important truths 
that concern the salvation of their souls. In the meantime, the 
ridicule and censure he was likely to draw down upon himself, 
for entering into the ministry without an academical education, 
with all its attendant honours, but especially the awful respon- 
sibility attached to the pastoral office, greatly discouraged him; 
yet the prospect of an early removal to another world, together 
with a strong desire of being serviceable to the souls of perish- 
ing men, by turning them into the paths of righteousness, over- 
powered all these apprehensions. Having his views thus fixed 
upon the ministry, he applied to Dr. Thornborough, bishop of 
Winchester, for holy orders; which, after examination, he re- 
ceived, having as yet no conscientious scruples with regard to 
conformity to the church of England. 

With regard to this controversy, he had consulted the neigh- 
bouring ministers, who furnished him with Downham, Sprint, 
and Dr. Burgess, who had all written in defence of conformity; 
but they could furnish him with none who had taken up the other 
side of the controversy, all of whom they represented as mean 
scholars, whose arguments were weak and inconclusive; where- 
upon his mind was satisfied, that church conformity was both 
lawful and expedient, and that the conformists had the better 
cause. With this conviction he subscribed, without the least 
scruple, as is usual at the time of his ordination. 

Being settled at Dudley, he preached both in the town and 
neighbouring villages, where he became acquainted with seve- 
ral non-conformists, whom he considered too censorious and 
bitter in their animadversions against the conformists, although 
he found them honest and godly people. From them he had 
the perusal of several writings on their own side of the question; 



RICHARD BAXTER, 695 

and, amongst the rest, Ames' fresh Suit against the Ceremonies; 
which he carefully read, and compared with Dr. Burgess' Re- 
joinder; and, upon the whole, at this time came to the follow- 
ing conclusions : " That kneeling was lawful — of the surplice 
he had some doubts, but was rather inclined to consider it no 
sufficient objection; for although he was determined never to 
use it, till under a necessity of so doing, he could not perceive 
how he could justify himself in forsaking his ministry merely 
on that account. Of the ring in marriage he had not the least 
scruple. The cross in baptism, he conceived, had been suffi- 
ciently proven by Dr. Ames to be unlawful; and with this con- 
viction, never once used that ceremony. The English Liturgy, 
in particular, he thought very defective, and in great disorder, 
though not to a degree that should render it unwarrantable to 
such as could not be better furnished. To a form of prayer, 
and a liturgy as such, providing the matter therein contained 
were sound, he had no great objection." He looked for disci- 
pline in the church, and lamented the neglect of it; but at this 
time was not so sensible as afterwards, that the very frame of 
diocesan prelacy, more than even the negligence of the bishops, 
either excluded or prevented it from being exercised. Sub- 
scription he began to consider unlawful, and repented his rash- 
ness in submitting, till he had more maturely examined the 
contents of those books which he had been called to subscribe. 
For although he could use the Common Prayer, and had not as 
yet wholly renounced diocesan prelacy, still to subscribe Ex 
Animo, that there is nothing in the three books contrary to the 
word of God, was what he would by no means have done, had 
he taken the same view of the matter at the time of subscrip- 
tion; so that subscription, the cross in baptism, and the promis- 
cuous admission to the Lord's supper of all comers, who had not 
been excommunicated by a bishop or chancellor, who knew 
nothing of their life and qualifications, were all to which he was 
yet disinclined to conform. 

While he continued at Dudley, he had a numerous auditory, 
and a very tractable people to deal with; but within nine 
months, he was induced to remove to Bridgenorth, the second 
town in Shropshire, as assistant to Mr William Madstard, 
where he was indulged in all his scruples, and put upon no 
work to which he had any conscientious objection; which, with 
the prospect of peace and quietness, were the only inducements 
he had for leaving his former charge. 

He was scarcely well settled in this place till he was disturb- 
ed with the et ccetera oath, which was framed by the convocation 
then sitting. But the act of swearing to a blind et ccetera, which 
might be legally altered by the king, and, of course, might, in 



696 MEMOIR OF 

process of time, become an oath of rebellion, he could by no 
means agree to. It was an oath, besides, that must have pre- 
vented every swearer from making any attempts at church re- 
formation. It was, moreover, an encroachment on the privi- 
leges of parliament to have such an oath imposed without their 
consent. The neighbouring ministers, somewhat alarmed, met 
together to consult what was best to be done on this threaten- 
ing occasion; when some were for quietly acquiescing, but a 
much greater number were for standing up against it. This 
put Mr Baxter on a more close and critical investigation of the 
divine right of episcopacy; in the course of which, having read 
Bucer, Parker, and Baynes, which he compared with the rea- 
sons of bishop Downam, he was convinced, that though all kinds 
of episcopacy was not flatly condemned by the scriptures, the 
English diocesan form of it was calculated to corrupt both the 
churches and ministry, and to exclude all true church disci- 
pline, by substituting a heterogenial thing, the offspring of an 
interested clergy, in its place; so that this very oath, which had 
been imposed for the express purpose of subjugating the nation 
for ever to the diocesans, was the means of alienating the mind 
of Mr Baxter, and thousands beside him, from their oppressive 
government. 

Many, who before this went quietly on with their own busi- 
ness, and left the bishops to their own measures, were, by the 
terror of this oath, roused from their indifference to look about 
them, and consider what they were doing. New animosities 
were engendered amongst the contending parties, by the un- 
ceasing debates which this unreasonable and impolitic oath had 
occasioned, and its opposers became more and more friendly to 
the cause of nonconformity, and more conciliated to its defend- 
ers, till that which was designed for their ruin ultimately prov- 
ed their greatest advantage. 

While the church of England was thus divided on the ques- 
tion of conformity, the church of Scotland was also in a flame. 
That nation, which had been accustomed to a presbyterian govern - 
ment in the church, had first a more moderate system of epis- 
copacy imposed upon them than that exercised in England; un- 
der which, though they felt uneasy, yet they had continued 
quiet, and, generally speaking, orderly, till the English Prayer 
Book, with some trifling alterations, together with the English 
Ceremonies, were very unceremoniously enforced upon the 
nation. 

The first public reading of this new Service-book occasioned 
an insurrection in Edinburgh, and roused such an indignant 
feeling throughout the nation, that, in spite of all the care and 
industry of the earl of Traquhair, the king's commissioner, the 



RICHARD BAXTER. 69? 

number of the malcontents still increased, till, the greater part 
of the nobility falling in with them, they got the whole power 
of the nation into their own hands. At the same time the 
king imposed a tax on his English subjects, called shipmoney, 
on pretence of strengthening the navy; which, being done with- 
out the consent of parliament, gave general dissatisfaction. A 
universal murmuring was thus created through the whole king- 
dom, more especially amongst the country nobility and gentry, 
who considered this arbitrary transaction as trenching upon the 
fundamental laws of the country, the privileges of parliament, 
and the established rights of individual property. 

The universal cry raised by these measures, and the fears of 
the people at this period, were, " That if parliaments and pro- 
perty were once destroyed, the constitution would, from that 
moment, be dissolved; so that no man could have the least secu- 
rity, either for property, liberty, or life, save the precarious and 
capricious pleasure of the king, whose will would be the su- 
preme law." Numbers refused to pay this shipmoney tax, and 
were thereupon distrained. Mr Hampden and the Lord Sey 
brought it to a trial at law; in which Mr Oliver, St. John, and 
others, defended the cause of the people. The twelve judges 
were consulted, and all, with the exception of judges Hutton 
and Crook, gave their opinion in favour of the king; which, of 
course, occasioned a still greater noise. 

The Scots, soon after this, entered England with an army, 
encouraged, it is said, by many of the English nobility, who 
could not perceive by what other means they might force the 
king to call a parliament to rectify the disorders of the state. 
The earls of Essex, Warwick, Bedford, Clare, Bolingbroke, 
Mulgrave, and Holland, with the lords Sey and Brook, are re- 
puted by some to have been concerned in forwarding this mea- 
sure. But Heylin says, " That the Scots, after they had enter- 
ed the country, not the first, but the second time, persuaded 
these noblemen, that the liberties of England depended upon 
their defending the powers and privileges of their parliament; 
which moved them at last to petition the king, that he would 
be graciously pleased to call his parliament together to settle 
the increasing disorders both of the church and state." 

The king met the Scots at Newcastle; a pacification was 
concluded, and an English parliament called; on which the 
Scotch army returned home. This parliament, however, soon 
displeased the king; on which account it was dissolved, and a 
fresh war undertaken against the Scotch; to the expense of which, 
besides others, the papists made liberal contributions. The 
Scottish nation loudly complained that this unnecessary war 
was the effect of popish counsels; and calling their army again 

25 4 t 



698 MEMOIR OF 

to the field, they marched into England. The English once 
more petition for a parliament, and once more it is resolved 
on, and put into execution; but neither the Scottish nor 
English armies were disbanded. Thus, what was afterwards 
called the long parliament, had its origin; a parliament the 
most active, successful, and celebrated of any that ever sat in 
England. 

This parliament being met, they commenced their labours 
with the reformation both of church and state. Long and en- 
ergetic speeches were made against shipmoney, against the 
judges that approved of the measure, the et ccetera oath, and the 
convocation of bishops who formed it; also against my lord 
Strafford, archbishop Laud, and other evil counsellors. There 
was an astonishing harmony amongst the members; for, at this 
time, as the king had imposed the shipmoney on the common- 
wealth, and at the same time permitted the bishops to impose upon 
the church their intolerant acts of conformity, and suspension for 
want of supercanonical obedience; so the parliament, consist- 
ing of two parties, the one strongly attached to civil, and the 
other to ecclesiastical liberty, they, by uniting their endeavours^ 
their influence, and their votes, carried every thing before them. 

No sooner was the disposition of the majority of this parlia- 
ment made known throughout the kingdom, than complaints 
and petitions, respecting grievances, both civil and ecclesiasti- 
cal, were poured into the house from every quarter of the king- 
dom, and great things, such as heretofore had been considered 
impossible, were effected in a very short time. An act was now 
passed against the high court of commission and the civil power 
©f churchmen; another, that the parliament should not be dis- 
solved without its own consent; and a third, for triennial parlia- 
ments; and at length the king was even forced to withdraw his 
protection from the lord-deputy Wentworth, whom the parlia- 
ment had charged with treason, and almost every thing assumed 
a new appearance. Amongst a mass of other important matters, 
a reformation of the clergy was resolved on, and a committee 
appointed to hear petitions and complaints against them; upon 
which multitudes from every corner of the country came up 
with complaints against their ministers; some for being insuffi- 
cient, some erroneous, some for imposing illegal innovations, 
and other some for scandalous lives. Mr John White was 
chairman of this committee, and published the evidence and de- 
cisions against two hundred scandalous ministers, which, Mr 
Calamy tells us, were filled with most abominable particulari- 
ties, which had better been concealed than published, to become 
the sport of papists, athiests, and other profane persons. 
Among the numerous complaints laid before this committee, the 



RICHARD BAXTER. 699 

town of Kidderminster presented a petition, charging their vicar, 
and his two curates, with insufficiency for their offices; and the 
vicar, conscious of the fact, compounded the business, by al- 
lowing £ 60 per annum, out of something less than £ 200, 
which the living was worth, to support a preacher, who was to 
be chosen by fourteen of the trustees. The preacher, thus to 
be chosen, to have permission to preach whenever he pleased; 
while the vicar was to read the common prayer, and perform 
such parts of the service as the preacher might consider matter 
of scruple; for all which he gave a bond of £500. This ar- 
rangement being completed, the trustees invited Mr Baxter to 
give them a sermon; which he did so much to their satisfaction, 
that he was unanimously chosen to be their minister. He 
spent two years at Kidderminster before the commencement of 
the war, and fourteen after. He found the place like a piece 
of dry and barren ground, ignorance and profanity greatly 
abounding, both in the town and surrounding country; but by 
the blessing of heaven on his labours, it soon assumed the ap- 
pearance of paradise, flourishing in all the fruits of righteousness. 
Rage and malice at first gave him considerable opposition; but 
it soon passed over, and, by the divine blessing, his unwearied 
labours amongst the people had an unprecedented success. 

Before his coming to Kidderminster, that town was notable 
for the vanity of its inhabitants. They had a yearly show, 
wherein they were wont to exhibit the forms of giants, and other 
antic devices, in their gaudy processions. Mr Baxter gave them 
no disturbance; yet the more vicious had still some scurvy thing 
to vent against him in some part of their exhibitions. Some time 
after his entering on this charge, the parliament sent down an 
order to demolish the statues or images of any of the three 
persons of the Trinity, or of the Virgin Mary, which might be 
found in churches, or crosses in church-yards. The church- 
warden was about to proceed in that business, when, lo, in an 
instant, men from every quarter appeared, with such weapons 
as came first to hand, in order to protect their images; and Mr 
Baxter was blamed for all; but, by a happy providence, he was 
gone about a mile into the country, by which he escaped their 
rage and deadly resentment. Next Lord's day Mr Baxter dealt 
plainly with them, pointed out the enormity of their offence, 
and told them, since they seemed determined to shed his blood, 
he would leave them, and so prevent them from the commission 
of such a heinous transgression. The poor creatures were quite 
ashamed of themselves; for, after all, they were sorry to think 
of parting with him. 

Mr Baxter was not so discouraged by this riot, but that he 
set about his labours with still more determined resolution. On 



700 MEMOIR OF 

two days of every week, he and his assistant took between them 
fourteen families for private conference and catechising. He 
spent about an hour wit&t each family, and lest their bashfulness 
might make it disagreeable, or the ignorance observed might be 
sent abroad, none else were admitted. In bis pulpit services 
he had a diligent and attentive auditory. Though the church 
was capacious, and very commodious, his congregation was 
soon augmented to that degree, that five additional galleries were 
added for their accommodation. 

Before the civil war, the riotous rabble had boldness enough 
to make serious godliness a common scorn, and stigmatize all 
who seemed conscientious in the performance of family worship, 
with the name of precisians, puritans, and round-heads. If 
they met together for prayer, or left an ignorant or drunken 
clergyman to hear a godly minister in a neighbouring parish, 
the bishop's spies watched over them, and the high commission 
court grievously afflicted them. After the war, the case, in 
this respect, was considerably altered. Piety was not only 
at full liberty, but countenanced, encouraged, and protected 
from insult. On the whole, Mr Baxter found so much of the 
Spirit of God accompanying his labours at Kidderminster, and 
had such an affectionate regard to the loving people of this 
place, that no preferment in the kingdom could have induced 
him to make an exchange. The civil war now began to rage, 
and the blood of the nation was pouring out; so that the languish- 
ing state seemed almost incurable. The arbitrary measures of 
the king, and their rigid execution, had thrown the whole into 
commotion and universal discontent. The common cry, at this 
time, was for the execution of justice upon delinquents. The 
favourites, and special advisers of the king, were of course 
alarmed for their own safety; and having no hope of forgive- 
ness from the people, they urged him onto a war, that proved 
his undoing. The lord-keeper Finch, and secretary Windbank, 
fled the country. The judges, who advised the legality of 
shipmoney, were accused in parliament, and some of them im- 
prisoned. The earl of Strafford and archbishop Laud were 
committed to the tower, charged with high treason. The trial 
of deputy Wentworth was strongly opposed and protracted by 
the king, who did every thing in his power to stop the prosecu- 
tion; which considerably divided the parliament. The lords 
Falkland, Digby, and other men of note, were for gratifying 
his majesty in this particular, and saving his deputy; but others 
cried aloud for justice — insisting, that, as a conspiracy the most 
formidable had been set on foot for subverting the fundamental 
laws of the kingdom and the liberty of the people, and deputy 
Wentworth being at the head of that conspiracy, if, said they, 



RICHARD BAXTER. ?01 

tliis greatest of crimes pass unpunished, it will naturally en- 
courage other enemies of the state to perpetrate similar acts of 
treason, and thereby hazard the repose of the nation, and even 
the existence of the constitution. These debates were attended 
with much heat and party feeling; but the heat soon subsided, 
and the parliament became more unanimous, and at last resolved 
to defend their privileges, and those of the people, at all hazards. 
The king had a considerable party, composed of state politi- 
cians and friends to the ecclesiastical hierarchy, who jointly 
exerted themselves against the parliament; but the country par- 
ty, depending on the assistance of all true-hearted Englishmen, 
should matters come to an extremity, carried every thing with a 
high hand. About this time the London apprentices carried 
up a petition to Westminster in a body; and falling in with 
some of the bishops by the way, who were passing to the House 
in their coaches, these apprentices, forgetting the rules of com- 
mon civility, raised the shout of no bishops, and rudely laughed 
them to scorn. Whereupon these, with other ecclesiastics, in 
a pretended fright, met together, and declaring themselves de- 
terred from attending their duty in parliament, by clamour and 
tumults, protested against any law that might be enacted in 
their absence. This protest, however, was so resented by par- 
liament, that those who subscribed it were voted delinquents, 
and sent to prison for thus attempting to destroy the power of 
parliament. The London petitions were carried up by great 
numbers of the petitioners; which occasioned such scuffles and 
tumults, that the king began to consider himself unsafe, either 
in the city or its vicinity. The two armies of Scots and English 
were still in the north, undisbanded for want of money to pay 
them off. The English army, wanting their pay, were discon- 
tented; and becoming mutinous, a scheme was laid to march 
them suddenly to London, and disperse the parliament. But this 
being discovered, several of the principal officers were examin- 
ed, who confessed that some near the king had treated with them 
about marching the army to London. When this was publish- 
ed, it convinced the greater part of the members, that the king, 
while he amused them with promises, only waited for an op- 
portunity to bear them down by force, and use them at his 
pleasure. All the measures of the king were laid with so little 
judgment, and managed with so little address, that they made 
the parliament more and more popular, while they rendered his 
intentions extremely suspicious. Being at last advised no longer 
to stand by and see himself affronted by his parliament, the king 
took an unprecedented step, by suddenly entering the House, 
with a company of armed cavaliers, and demanding five of the 
members whom he charged with high treason; but having got 



702 MEMOIR OF 

previous notice, they had retired to the city. The House was. 
hereupon alarmed; and considering, that if their lives and li- 
berties were thus to be menaced by the sword, unless their pro- 
ceedings were merely the echo of the royal will, they deserved 
not the name of an English parliament, but a junto of slaves. 
This rash measure of the court was accordingly voted a breach 
of privilege, and the effect of evil counsel; which vote they pub- 
lished, to awaken the people to rescue them, as if they were in 
imminent danger. 

But there was nothing that wrought upon the people so ef- 
fectually as the Irish massacre and rebellion. The Irish papists 
having raised an unexpected insurrection throughout the whole 
kingdom, and seized upon almost all the places of strength, on 
the 23d October 1641, so that Dublin, which was to have 
been surprised on the same night, was saved almost by a mi- 
racle. In this massacre and rebellion they murdered 200,000 
persons, in the most wanton, cruel, and barbarous manner ever 
recorded in history; besides an incredible number whom they 
had stripped naked, chiefly women and children, and setting 
fire to their dwellings, left them to perish with cold and hunger. 
Some thousands of whom, however, escaped to Dublin, and af- 
terwards to England, where they begged their bread through 
the country, and terrified the inhabitants with the dreadful de- 
tail of their sufferings, and the destruction of their murdered 
countrymen. The Irish declared that they had the king's 
commission for what they did; which many, by taking all cir- 
cumstances into consideration, were ready to believe, and all 
England was struck with terror, lest, having destroyed the 
protestants in that country, they should come over, and, united 
with the English catholics, also murder the protestant inhabi- 
tants. Such was the alarm at this time, that when the rumour 
of a plot, discovered at London, was circulated, the poor peo- 
ple, over all the kingdom, were ready to run to arms, or hide 
themselves, from the terrible apprehension that the papists were 
coming to cut their throats. 

The parliament, under all their embarrassments, were never- 
theless anxious to send aid to Dublin in its extreme distress. 
The king was equally anxious to go thither to head the army 
himself; but the parliament were too well acquainted with his 
intention to suffer him, well aware that he would join his own 
army with that of the Irish, and direct his vengeance against 
them and the measures they were carrying on. In the mean- 
time, the handful that was still remaining in Dublin defended 
themselves with desperate courage and resolution; but conscious 
that, without help from England, they must soon be overcome, 
they most earnestly entreated the parliament to consider the 



RTCHARD BAXTER. 703 

importance of the place, which, as matters then stood, was, in 
reality, the bulwark of England, as well as that of Ireland. 
For, say they, the Irish papists have threatened, that so soon as 
they clear their hands of the scattered remnant here, they 
will pass over to England, and deal with the protestants and 
parliament there. These threatenings, with the dreadful ac- 
count of 200,000 murdered protestants, and the horrid detail of 
their unprecedented barbarities, inclined a very large propor- 
tion of the English nation to the opinion, that the parliament 
ought, on such a dangerous crisis, to put the nation in a pos- 
ture of defence, by arming the inhabitants. Accordingly, they 
forthwith appointed lord-lieutenants for the militia. The 
king did the same, and both published their declarations, justi- 
fying their cause. The parliament appointed the earl of Essex 
for general. The king went to Nottingham, where he set up his 
standard, and collected about him 2000 men, and the city of 
London and vicinity quickly furnished a gallant army for the 
earl of Essex. To defray the expense of this army, the citizens 
poured in their money and plate, and the ladies their rings and 
jewels. 

In this contest between the king and parliament, particularly 
after the battle of Edgehill, the generality of the nobility took 
part with the king, and joined the royal standard at Oxford. 
A great part of the lords, and many of the commons, also join- 
ed him; and unless in the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Suf- 
folk, Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire, a great proportion of the 
knights and country gentlemen also adhered to the royal cause; 
most of their tenants followed their example, as did the most 
of the poorer sort throughout the nation. A few of the nobles, 
a larger share of the gentry, and the greatest number of 
the tradesmen in corporations, especially in the manufac- 
turing towns, the freeholders also, and men of middle for- 
tunes, for the most part ranged themselves on the side of the 
parliament: who, moreover, might reckon on the friendship of 
the far greater part of those, who, throughout the nation, were 
inclined to sobriety and religious strictness. The enemies of 
profanity and loose living, both ministers and people, adhered 
to the parliament. — On the other hand, such as were addicted to 
swearing, gaming, and drinking, to dancing, and other tolerated 
recreations on the Lord's day, and fond of running down 
all whom they considered more religious and circumspect in 
their lives than themselves, both priests and people, these, all 
along, adhered to the king; and in so doing, determined the 
choice of almost all sober and honest men for the parliament- 
ary cause. The silencing of vast numbers of godly and labo- 
rious preachers, and filling their places by ignorant, scandalous, 



704 MEMOIR OF 

and careless men, who were a disgrace to the gospel of Christ, 
had also the effect of alienating the minds of many from the 
cause of the king and his bishops. The high church party as 
loudly complained of the nonconformists, calling them, in deri- 
sion, puritans, hypocrites, rebels, and round-heads, with other epi- 
thets of disgrace. The constitutional government of the king- 
dom, by kings, lords, and commons, being a mixt government, 
and, of course, not arbitrary, the friends of the parliament justified 
their opposition to the king, by saying, if the king's commissions 
be more powerful than the laws, which have been enacted with 
the consent of the three branches of the legislature; then must 
the king be an arbitrary despot, and the people no longer his 
subjects, but his slaves. In support of this reasoning, they 
quoted Barclay, Grotius de Jure Belli et Pacts, Hooker, 
and Bilson, all of whom admit of the propriety, nay, the neces- 
sity of resisting unlawful acts of power in cases similar to those 
in which they were unhappily involved. The king urged, that 
the power of calling forth the militia belonged to him; and the 
parliament admitted the fact; but urged the necessity, as things 
then stood, of his relinquishing for a time that part of his pre- 
rogative, unless the kingdom were to be given up to murdering 
papists and delinquents; for although he had the right to com- 
mand the militia of the country by his kingly prerogative, yet 
was it obvious, he had only a right to use them against the ene- 
mies of the commonwealth, but not to overawe the other 
branches of the legislature, which his evil counsellors had 
already urged, and advised him to attempt. 

The king marched from Nottingham to Shrewsbury, and filled 
up his army from Shropshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, 
and Wales; and the earl of Essex marched with a gallant army 
to Worcester, the several regiments of which were accompanied 
by some of the most popular divines as chaplains. On the 23d 
October 1642, the parties came to a trial of strength at Edge- 
hill, where the king's army was worsted, and retreated to Ox- 
ford; and Essex towards Coventry, to refresh his troops. But 
that which most of all tended to strengthen the parliament, and 
ruin the king, was the want of discipline in his army, the en- 
couragement given to the debauched rabble, to insult, plunder, 
and threaten the puritans wherever they came; filled the 
parliamentary army with men of piety and principle, and man- 
ned their garrisons with the plundered and insulted inhabitants, 
who had no mind to meddle with the war, till driven from their 
ruined abodes by military insolence or popular outrage. 

Mr Baxter had all along endeavoured to heal the breach, and 
cement the jarring interests in the nation, till at last he began 
to be attacked on both sides, by one party for not going the full 



RICHARD BAXTER. 705 

length they desired, by the other for having gone any length at 
all in the cause of church and state reformation; which they 
considered were altogether unnecessary, under so pious a king, 
and such primitive and apostolic bishops. In his politics, Mr 
Baxter, while endeavouring to steer clear of all the slavish 
principles of absolute monarchy, also opposed the confound- 
ing notions of democratical projectors. He was alike inimical 
to the arbitrary encroachments of assuming prelates, and the 
uncharitable and dividing principles of the sectarians. This ex- 
posed him to the malignity of each party, and created him much 
trouble. His conscience, in the meantime, was satisfied with 
the measures he had taken, and he had no doubt but posterity, 
after the heat of these contentions was over, would form a 
more favourable opinion of his conduct than many of his con- 
temporaries, who were actuated by malice, fury, and blind bi- 
gotry, in the censures they passed upon him. 

He adhered to the cause of the long parliament, so far as he 
conceived their cause and procedure were justifiable; but nei- 
ther hope nor fear could either draw or drive him into any 
measure that his conscience did not recognise. On occasion 
of the Irish massacre, parliament passed an order, that all the 
people should take a protestation to defend the king's person, ho- 
nour, and authority, the power and privileges of parliaments, the 
liberties of the subject, and the protestant religion, against the 
common enemy. With this measure Mr Baxter readily agreed, 
and joined with the magistrates in offering the protestation to 
the people. Soon after this the king's declarations were also 
read in the market-place at Kidderminster, and the commission 
of array set on foot. The lord Howard, who had been appointed, 
by parliament, lieutenant for the militia of the county of Wor- 
cester, not appearing, the rabble grew so riotously outrageous, 
that a sober man, of acknowledged piety, could no longer hope 
to remain in the place with safety. The word was, Down with 
the round-heads ; so that, in many places, a stranger, with short 
hair, and a civil habit, could no sooner make his appearance, than 
down with the round-heads was vociferated, and he was knocked 
down on the street, where none durst appear in his defence. 

To avoid uproars of this description, Mr Baxter was advised 
to withdraw from Kidderminster for some time, in hopes that 
matters would become more orderly. He took their advice, 
and retired to Gloucester, where he found a civil, courteous, 
and religious people, differing as much from those of Worces- 
ter, as if they had lived under another government. Here, 
having remained about a month, his friends at Kidderminster 
desired his return, lest the people might interpret his absence 
the effect of guilt or disloyalty. He returned, and found the 

26 4 u 



706 MEMOIR OF 

drunken rabble still boisterously threatening all sober and sin^ 
cere people, and crying out, We will do the puritans* business 
by and by. They were like mastiffs newly let loose from the 
chains, flying in the face of every thing sacred or civil ; which 
obliged him again to withdraw. He spent a few days with the 
earl of Essex* army, then about Worcester, till the approach 
of the king's army caused them to remove. On the following 
Lord's day he preached at Alcester; and during sermon, the 
report of the cannon informed them that the armies were engag- 
ed; and this, the battle of Edgehill, began the war. Towards 
evening the fugitives assured them that all was lost on the par- 
liament's side; but, soon after, another account stated, that 
while prince Rupert's men were plundering the waggons of 
Essex' left wing, which they had routed, the right wing and 
centre prevailed against the rest of the king's army, and ulti- 
mately carried the day. Next morning Mr Baxter went to see 
the field, and found Essex in possession of the ground, with the 
royal army facing him on a hill about a mile distant, and about 
a thousand dead bodies in the iield between them. 

At this time Mr Baxter was at a loss what course to take — 
to live at Kidderminster was both dangerous and uncomfortable, 
owing to the passing and repassing of the soldiers, who were 
ready to lay their hands upon whatever came in their way. 
But having nothing whereon to subsist elsewhere, in a place of 
safety, the choice was difficult. At length he resolved to go to 
Coventry, where Mr Simon King, with whom he was acquaint- 
ed at Bridgenorth, was minister. There he was determined to 
remain till the war was ended. So little was he or the country 
acquainted with war, that they never doubted but a few days, 
or at least a few weeks, and another battle would bring things 
to a point. But having remained with Mr King about a month, 
and peace appearing farther distant than ever, he began to con- 
sider how he could make some provision for himself* that he 
might not be burdensome to his friend. In the meantime, the 
governor and committee of the city of Coventry desired him to 
stay with them, and live in the governor's house, and preach to 
the soldiers. The offer was so well suited to his necessities, 
that he accepted it till he could find it safe to return to his 
charge. In this situation he preached once a-week to the sol- 
diers, and once to the citizens, without taking any remuneration 
for either, save his diet. He had a very judicious auditory. 
Many pious and worthy gentlemen were his constant hearers. 
There were at this time also about thirty worthy ministers, who, 
like himself, had retired here for safety. He was thankful for 
the quietness, safety, and sober, wise, and religious company he 
enjoyed in this place; where he pursued his studies, for a whole 



RICHARD BAXTER. 707 

^eat, as quietly as in the time of peace. By this time, the war, 
in place of drawing towards an end, had spread into the re- 
motest corners of the land. But some Shropshire gentlemen 
having resolved to settle a garrison at Wem, about eight miles 
from Shrewsbury, in their own county, and Mr M> Worth, 
Mr Hunt, and others, pressing him to go with them, he went; 
and having remained with them about two months, and re- 
deemed his father from prison, he returned to Coventry, and 
settled in his former place and employment, following his 
studies for another year. 

But the earl of Newcastle had overpowered lord Fairfax in the 
north; and the queen having brought over from the continent a 
considerable reinforcement of popish soldiers, which, with 
other concurring circumstances, rendered the king's party for- 
midable, the parliament were glad to request the aid of the 
Scotch nation; and an alliance being formed by the solemn 
league and covenant, the Scotch raised an army, and marching 
into England, cleared the north; but afterwards lay still, and 
did no service, but became burdensome. This was occasioned 
by the policy of Cromwell and his party, who were jealous of 
the power of the presbyterians, and purposely kept them with- 
out pay, and without marching orders. After the great battle 
of Naseby, which was not far from Coventry, Mr Baxter went 
to the army to visit some of his acquaintances. He staid a 
night with them, and got such intelligence respecting the state of 
the parties, as utterly astonished him. He found plotting heads 
at work to subvert both church and state. Independency and 
anabaptistry greatly prevailed, antinomianism and arminian- 
km were also prevalent; while the followers of Thomas More 
had made a shift to unite these opposite extremes. Many of 
the officers and soldiers were honest and orthodox men. But 
a few self-conceited, proud, and hot-headed sectaries, had got 
into the highest places, and were Cromwell's great favourites; 
and by their ardour and activity, bore down the rest, or carried 
them along with them, determined not only to put down the 
bishops, but also whoever stood in their way. Cromwell and 
his council, however, were for a universal toleration. Mi- 
Baxter, on discovering the situation of the army with respect 
to sentiments of religion, could not help regretting, that the mi- 
nisters, who at first attended the different regiments, had most- 
ly left them after the battle of Edgehill, and betaken themselves 
to an easier and quieter mode of life. He even reflected upon 
himself for refusing an invitation from Cromwell to be chaplain 
to his troop, which was to be a gathered church. He regretted 
that he had not then gone with them, while the fire was con- 
fined, as it were, into one spark; but captain Evanson assured 



70S MEMOIR OF 

him it was not yet too late to do essential service in the army ? 
That the regiment to which he was attached was one of the- 
most religious, valiant, and successful in the army, and that 
they were in as much danger of being carried away with the 
present tide of sectarianism as any; and therefore he pressed 
him to come among them. Although Mr Baxter was loath to 
leave his studies and quiet situation, to go into an army so cir- 
cumstanced; yet considering that the public good required him, 
he gave the captain some encouragement; which he told to co- 
lonel Whalley, an orthodox man, who invited Mr Baxter to be 
chaplain to his regiment. This invitation, after consulting 
with some friendly divines, he accepted. 

He marched with the army to the west, against lord Goring, 
and was at the taking of Bridge-water, and the siege of Bristol 
and Sherbon castle. He was also three weeks at the siege of 
Exeter; but colonel Whalley being ordered, with a party of 
horse, to keep in the garrison of Oxford till the army could 
come to besiege it, he accompanied him thither. He was with 
him also six weeks before Banbury castle, and eleven at the 
siege of Worcester. Here the sectarians at head quarters, be- 
coming jealous of colonel Whalley, he lost the government of 
this city, which he had so bravely reduced, and all on account 
of his chaplain. When Worcester siege was over, he went to 
Kidderminster to visit his flock; who thinking now that the 
country was cleared of the royal army, he should remain with 
them; but being advised by the ministers, who still remained at 
Coventry, he returned to the army; but was soon after obliged 
to leave it, owing to a bleeding at the nose, whereby he lost 
about a gallon of blood. He now retired to Sir Thomas 
Rouse's, where he languished long, expecting that a dropsy, with 
which he was threatened, would soon end his days. By this 
providence, God unavoidably prevented him from making a last 
and more determined endeavour to reclaim the army to moder- 
ate principles, and, if possible, prevent the anarchy, which 
every thinking person, at all acquainted with what was going 
forward in the army, might have clearly anticipated — But the 
counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. 

Mr Baxter, who having the best opportunities of being well 
informed with respect to the sectaries of this period, says, in 
general, concerning them, " That they were fond of division, 
separation, and party-making; though many of them were raw 
and illiterate, j'et were they apt to be puffed up with their own 
little degrees of knowledge and dexterity of management, inso- 
much that they refused all terms of concord and unity, and 
carried it so loftily, that they became the pity of understanding 
men. These sectaries., especially anabaptists, seekers, and 



RICHARD BAXTER. 709 

quakers, used to select the most able, laborious, and pious mi- 
nisters for the marks of their obloquy and reproach, and that 
because they were the most powerful opposers of their designs, 
and counteracted their warmest endeavours to propagate their 
opinions amongst the people. The shafts of their calumny were 
directed against the same men, at whom the libertines of the 
royal army had-all along pointed their malicious irony and un- 
merited ridicule, with this difference only, that they did it more 
profanely, and more hypocritically, than these, in that they said, 
let the Lord be glorified, let the gospel be propagated, and sin- 
ners converted to God. They pretended to be regulated in 
their opinions solely by the word of God, and the internal light 
of the Spirit; yet seldom stuck at any thing that promised to 
promote their cause, and most implicitly agreed with, and ad- 
vocated whatever their faction in the army had resolved on. 
If they pulled down the parliament, imprisoned its faithful 
members, killed the king, cast out the rump, set up Cromwell, 
set up his son, and again pulled him down; in all these things the 
anabaptists, and many of the independents, followed them, and 
even their pastors were for the most part ready to lead them on 
to concur. 

It is no doubt true, that similar accusations have often been 
laid against many that have been guilty of no such things; and 
therefore, says Mr Baxter, " some will be offended at me, and 
charge me with the faults I reprehend. But shall none be re- 
proved because some are slandered ? Shall hypocrites be freed 
from conviction and censure because wicked men call the godly 
hypocrites and bigots? The scriptures have not spared the 
greatest and best of God's children— witness Noah, Lot, David, 
Hezekiah, Josiah, and Peter — but has marked out their sin and 
shame to all generations. And yet we find (such is the human 
heart) that it will rise into indignation against him who has 
honesty enough to tell them, or their party, of their errors and 
misdoings, or call them to repentance and moderation. And, 
alas ! many, who there is good reason to believe are children 
of God by faith in Christ Jesus, cannot be exempted from this 
animadversion. The poor church of Christ, the sober, sound, 
and religious part in particular, are, like their persecuted Mas^ 
ter, crucified between two thieves, the profane and formal per- 
secutors on one hand, and the fanatic division-courting sectaries 
on the other, have, in all ages, been grinding the seed of the 
church as corn between two millstones." 

Many new sects also sprung up in these times. Sir Henry 
Vane had a sect of new disciples, which originated under him 
in New England while governor in that province. Their no^ 
tions were then raw and undigested. His coming over to Eng- 



710 MEMOIR OF 

land proved a great calamity to his native country. Being 
chosen a member of parliament, he was at first very active in 
bringing delinquents to punishment, and became the principal 
man who drove on the parliament against the king. Being of 
ready parts, great subtlety, and unwearied industry, he labour- 
ed, with considerable success, to win others, in parliament, city, 
and country, to his opinions. To most of the changes that took 
place, he was that in parliament which Cromwell was in the 
army. His great zeal to enflame the country, and encourage 
the sectaries, especially in the army, rendered him highly popu- 
lar amongst their parties. But his unhappiness lay in his want 
either of ability or inclination clearly to express his sentiments. 
Few therefore understood them; and the lord Brook, who was 
methodising his notions, was slain before he had brought them 
into order and maturity. Mr Sterry was thought to be of his 
mind; but he also was so famous for mystical obscurity in his 
sermons, that he was considered too high for this world, and 
too low for the world to come. Sir Henry spoke sufficiently 
plain on almost every other subject. The two works in which he 
was most successful, were his Earnest Plea for Universal Liber- 
ty of Conscience, and his treatise against the magistrates having 
any power or authority to intermeddle with the concerns of the 
church. He went hand in hand with Cromwell while the 
protector continued a republican; but changing his opinion to- 
wards monarchy, when he supposed the ferment of the nation 
was wearing off, and there were some hopes that he might be 
acceptable to the people as their royal master, there was no re- 
medy but Sir Henry and he must part, as their way lay no 
longer in the same direction. 

After Cromwell's death he got Sir Arthur Hazlerigg to be 
his close adherent in politics, and re-established the rump, set 
up a council of state, and had the power, in a great measure, 
in his own hands. When thus in the height of his power, he 
formed the scheme of a popular government, and, with some of 
his adherents, drew up a model of his new commonwealth. 

It grieved Mr Baxter to the heart to see a kingdom thus toss- 
ed about, and the ministers of religion, and the attained re- 
formation, which had been the labour of so many years, troden 
under foot, and parliaments and piety made a scorn; while 
few had any doubt but he was the moving cause of all these 
changes. Mr Baxter, therefore, in writing against the papists, 
took occasion to vindicate the protestant religion and the re- 
formation, by showing, that the protestants, and particularly 
the presbyterians, abhorred the transaction that terminated the 
life of the king, and charged it upon Cromwell's army and the 
sectaries, among whom he named the Vanites, as having their 



RICHARD BAXTER. 711 

full share of guilt *and responsibility. Mr Baxter's writing 
against him bad tbe effect of lessening his reputation, and con- 
vincing many, that Cromwell, who knew Vane best, spoke the 
truth when he called him a juggler. On the restoration, he was 
called to account for the part he had acted under Cromwell, 
when he spoke so boldly in justification of the parliament, and 
the part he himself had acted, that the king, who had no inten- 
tion against his life, was so provoked, that he changed his mind 
— had him tried and beheaded on Tower Hill. When brought to 
the scaffold, he began to address the people so heroically, that the 
drums were beat to prevent them from hearing. No man ever 
died with more apparent fortitude and fearless resolution, though 
he had always been considered a timorous man; so that his 
death procured him more applause than all the actions of his life. 
Mr Baxter had not been long returned to Kidderminster, 
when he was drawn into a dispute with Mr Tombs, anabaptist 
minister at Bewdley, where they disputed the right of infants 
to baptism, from nine in the morning till five in the afternoon, 
before a crowded congregation. This dispute had the effect of 
reducing Mr Tombs' congregation to twenty members, and of 
satisfying the people of Kidderminster, and the adjacent coun- 
try, many of whom were in doubt which side to choose. When 
the army was about to march against the Scotch, Mr Baxter 
wrote letters to several of the soldiers, pointing out the sin and 
absurdity of imbruing their hands in the blood of those people, 
of whose piety they had no reason to doubt, especially after they 
had so frequently boasted of their own christian benevolence 
and love to the saints. When Cromwell had got the ascendant, 
sober people were much divided in their opinions in what man- 
ner they ought to conduct themselves; some were for opposing 
his usurped power, others for acquiescing with, and submitting 
to, that authority, which, at the time, alone could save the 
country from anarchy; others took a middle course, and quiet- 
ly submited to the power they could not control. This was 
Mr Baxter's method, who seasonably and moderately condemn- 
ed the usurpation, and the deceit and hypocrisy by which it was 
brought about; but did not think it his duty to rave against the 
usurper, the rather because he seemed to approve of a holy life, 
and, on the whole, offered to do good, and promote the gospel, and 
the interest of godliness, more than any had done before him. 
In the instrument, whereby Oliver was announced protector, 
it was declared, that all should have liberty for the exercise of 
their religion, who professed their faith in God by Jesus Christ. 
These words appeared, to some of the members of parliament, 
to import the fundamentals of the christian faith; it was there- 
fore agreed, that all should have a due share of religious liberty 



712 MEMOIR OF 

who professed the fundamentals. A committee was according- 
ly appointed to state what they considered essential articles, 
and Mr Baxter was appointed a member, who laboured to con- 
fine their scheme into as narrow a compass as could comprehend 
what was indispensably necessary for a test in the toleration 
thus to be granted. His opinion was, that no more was neces- 
cessary than what is contained in the baptismal covenant, " I 
believe in God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and give up 
myself in covenant to him, and renounce the devil, the world, 
and the flesh." This committee, after long debating, conde- 
scended upon, and printed twenty propositions to lay before the 
parliament; but before this could be effected, the House of Com- 
mons was dissolved, so that all they had done came to nothing. 

Truth and peace were the great objects of Mr Baxter's con- 
stant pursuit. He spared no pains if happily he might con- 
tribute to either, watching for the fittest opportunities for 
dealing with the different parties, into which the nation was so 
unhappily divided. He draw up overtures of peace and recon- 
ciliation, hoping he might thereby help to pave the way for a 
more charitable spirit, when the happy juncture arrived, al- 
though his labours for the present should prove abortive. Besides 
his labours amongst the protestants, he wrote three disputations 
against the papists; after which, the Winding-sheet of Popery, and 
then the Key to the Catholic to open up the Jugglings of the 
Jesuits. He also managed several particular debates with dif- 
ferent romanists, such as, W. Johnson, alias Terret, and others, 
which, added to his laborious diligence in the pastoral office, 
and his numerous practical writings, it will be difficult for any 
nerson to conceive, how a man, of such bodily weakness, con- 
stantly subjected to divers infirmities, should be capable of doing 
so much service; but a heart, overflowing with love to God, and 
burning with zeal for his glory, and the best interests of his 
fellow creatures, carried him through, and made him the won- 
der of the age he lived in. 

On the restoration of Charles the II, the expectations of men 
were various. The moderate episcopalians thought of a recon- 
ciliation with the presbyterians; the more politic part were 
pretty certain, that their ancient power, honour, and emolu- 
ments, would be restored to them. But many of the presby- 
terians were in great hopes of favour, and their hopes seemed 
to be well founded. They had an assurance from Charles him- 
self, in his declaration from Breda, addressed to all his loving 
subjects, April 4th, 1660; in which were these words — " We 
do declare a liberty to tender consciences; and that no man 
shall be disquieted, or called in question for differences of opi- 
nion which do not disturb the peace of the kingdom." To 



RICHARD BAXTER. 713 

cherish these hopes amongst the people, it was found conveni- 
ent at first to appoint ten or twelve of the presbyterian divines 
as chaplains in ordinary to his majesty, though none of them 
ever preached before him but Mr Calamy, Dr. Reynolds, Mr 
Baxter, Dr. Spurstow, and Mr Woodbridge, one sermon each. 
The king at first offered his best endeavour to reconcile the con- 
tending parties, advising each side to narrow their pretensions; 
but after much shuffling on the part of the episcopalians, the 
thing came to no termination; and in place of liberty to tender 
consciences^ the year following upwards of two thousand of the 
nonconforming divines in the kingdom of England were in one 
day expelled from their flocks, their livings, and their labours, 
and their places filled, in a great many instances, with men un- 
qualified for the service of religion; some by insufficiency, 
others by scandalous lives, and not a few by their heretical opi- 
nions. In the meantime, Mr Baxter would have willingly 
preached at Kidderminster in the low capacity of a curate; but 
this was refused him, though the lord Clarendon had promised 
to have him settled there as he desired. He had also been of- 
fered the bishoprick of Hereford by his lordship; but this he 
could not conscientiously accept, and finding himself disap- 
pointed, he preached occasionally about the city, having pro- 
cured a license from bishop Shelden, on his subscribing a pro- 
mise not to preach against the doctrines or the ceremonies of 
the church. He was appointed one of the commissioners at the 
Savoy, and chosen by his brethren to draw up the reformed li- 
turgy, then the subject of discussion. At this meeting he was 
also appointed, by the nonconformist divines, to answer the ob- 
jections of the bishops; but all was to no purpose, the thing 
ended in smoke. Mr Baxter preached his farewell sermon on 
the 15th May 1662, being three months before Bartholomew's 
day, when the nonconformists were all silenced. His reason, 
for this was, partly because the lawyers interpreted one clause 
of the act as putting an end to the lectures at that time, and 
partly also, that he wished all his brethren in the nation to 
understand, that he, for one, had no mind to conform to the 
church under such a severe test as had been imposed upon 
them. 

These ejected ministers continued almost ten years in a state 
of silence and obscurity, and Mr Baxter retired to Acton in 
Middlesex, where he prosecuted his studies. Every Lord's day 
he attended the parish church, and spent the rest of the day in 
his family, with a few poor neighbours who attended him. 
During the time that the plague was raging in the country, he 
retired to Richard Hampden's, Esq. in Buckinghamshire; and 
after it had ceased, he returned to Acton, where he found the 

26 4x 



714. MEMOIR Of 

church-yard like a ploughed field with new opened graves; but 
his own house uninfected, and part of his family that he had 
left, all well. 

September 2d, 1666, began that dreadful fire, that, in the 
space of three days, laid one of the fairest cities of the world in 
ashes. Mr Baxter lived quietly at Acton so long as the act 
against conventicles was in force; after which his auditors in- 
creased till he had not room to accommodate them; but his 
popularity offended the present incumbent, who stirred up the 
king against him, by representing him as a preacher of treason; 
in consequence of which he was imprisoned for six months. 

In 1671 Mr Baxter lost the greater part of his fortune, by 
the king shutting up the exchequer, in which he had deposited 
one thousand pounds. After the indulgence in 1672, he re- 
turned to London, and was one of the Tuesday lecturers at 
Pinner's Hall, and had a Friday's lecture at Fetter-lane. For 
some time he preached only occasionally on the Lord's day; but 
afterwards more regularly at St. James' Market-house. He 
was apprehended when preaching in Mr Turner's; but after- 
wards released, owing to a deficiency of the warrant. On the 
times becoming apparently less severe, he built a meeting-house 
in Oxendon Street; where he had only preached one sermon, 
till a scheme was laid to apprehend him by surprise, and con- 
fine him in the county jail on the Oxford act; but being appris- 
ed of their intention, he made his escape. The person, how- 
ever, who preached for him on that day, was committed to the 
Gatehouse prison, where he had to remain for three months. 
It was twelve months after this before he durst preach in his 
own meeting-house. In the interim he hired another in 
Swallow Street; but here again he was disappointed, by a guard 
being placed around the premises, for many Sabbaths, to pre- 
vent him from entering. But on the death of Mr Wadswortb, 
he found an opportunity to exercise his talent, by preaching to 
his congregation for a number of months. In the year 1682 he 
suffered more for his nonconformity than he had hitherto done. 
He was surprised in his own house by a number of constables 
and officers, with a warrant to seize his person for coming with- 
in five miles of a corporation, with five additional warrants to 
distrain for £ 195, the penalty for five sermons he had preach- 
ed, or was charged with preaching. At this juncture he was 
in a bad state of health; notwithstanding which, he was go- 
ing along with them with the greatest resignation, leaving all 
he had at their pleasure. But happily Dr. Cox saw them pass- 
ing, and forced him back to his bed; while he went before five 
justices, and made oath, that if Mr Baxter was committed to 
prison, it would be at the hazard of his life. The justices 



RICHARD BAXTER. 715 

thereupon agreed not to commit him till the king's pleasure was 
further known. The king consented not to imprison him; but 
to let him die in his own house. The officers, however, exe- 
cuted their warrants on his property, consisting of books and 
goods, though he made it appear that they were none of his. 
They even sold the bed from under him, were he lay sick, ap- 
parently unto death. But Mr Baxter had friends who did not 
desert him in the day of his distress; but came forward, and 
generously paid down the money at which the goods had been 
apprized; which he afterwards repaid them. Such was, at this 
time, the administration of justice, that all this was done with- 
out his having the least knowledge of any accusation against 
him, without being summoned, or having appeared before any 
justice to answer for himself, or being confronted with his 
accusers, or knowing who they were. 

During 1683 Mr Baxter was obliged to keep himself in great 
obscurity; yet, in the course of the year, he had a remarkable 
testimony of sincere esteem, and unbounded confidence, from 
the Rev. Mr Mayot, a clergyman of the church of England, 
who, by his will, devoted his estate to charitable purposes, and 
gave to Mr Baxter £ 600, to be distributed by him to sixty 
poor ejected ministers — adding, he did it, not because they were 
nonconformists, but because many such were poor and pious. 
But the king's attorney hearing of the legacy, sued for it in 
chancery, and the lord-keeper, North, passed a verdict, forfeiting 
the amount to the king. It was accordingly paid into chan- 
cery, and, as providence ordered, kept in safety till the acces- 
sion of king William, when the commissioners of the great seal 
restored it to Mr Baxter, who distributed it according to the 
intention of the donor. In 1684 he was carried from his house, 
when he was scarcely able to stand on his legs, and bound in 
the penalty of £ 400 to keep the peace, and brought up twice 
afterwards, though he had been confined to his bed the greater 
part of the time. 

In the beginning of 1685, Mr Baxter was confined in the 
king's bench prison, by a warrant from the lord chief justice 
Jefferies, for his Paraphrase on the New Testament, and tried 
on the 18th of May, in the same year, in the court of king's 
bench; where he was found guilty, and, on the 29th of June 
following, received a very severe sentence. This trial was by 
far the most remarkable incident of his life. We shall there- 
fore give the substance of it. On the 6th of May, being the 
first day of the term, Mr Baxter appeared in Westminster Hall, 
where an information was ordered to be drawn up against him. 
On the 14th he pleaded not guilty; and on the 18th of the same 
month, being much indisposed, he moved, that he might have 



716 MEMOIR OF 

longer time allowed him; but it was denied. He moved for it 
by his counsel; but Jefferies cried out in a passion, "I will not 
give him another minute to save his life. We have had to do, 
says he, with another description of persons, but now we have 
a saint to deal with, and I know how to deal with saints as well 
as with sinners. Yonder, says he, stands Oates in the pillory, 
who, says he, suffers for the truth, and so says Baxter; but 
were Baxter placed on the one side of the pillory, while he 
stands on the other, I would say that two of the greatest rogues 
and rascals in the kingdom stood there." On the 30th of May 
he was brought up to his trial before the lord chief justice Jef- 
feries at Guild Hall. Sir Henry Ashurst, who could not 
think of abandoning his own and his father's friend in the day 
of his distress, stood by him all the while. Mr Baxter entered 
the court with the greatest composure, and waited for the lord 
chief justice, who soon made his appearance, with indications of 
rage in his countenance. He was no sooner seated on the 
bench, than a short cause was called and tried; and the clerk 
having begun to read the title of another, Jefferies cried out, 
" You blockhead you ! the next cause is between Richard Bax- 
ter and the king." Mr Baxter's cause was accordingly brought 
forward. The passages on which he was libelled were, his 
Paraphrase on Mat. v. 19. Mark ix. 39. xi. 31. and xii. 38, 39, 
40. Luke x. 2. John xi. 57. and Acts xv. 2. These passages 
had been selected by Sir Roger L'Estrange and some of his 
companions. The most important charge, or that on which his 
lordship chiefly animadverted, was, that in these several pas- 
sages he reflected on the bishops of the church of England, and 
was therefore chargeable with sedition. The king's counsel 
opened the information with all its aggravating circumstances. 
Mr Wallop, Mr Williams, Mr Rotherham, Mr Atwood, and 
Mr Phipps, had been retained as counsel for Mr Baxter, by his 
friend Sir Henry Ashurst. Mr Wallop said, " He conceived 
the matter depending, being a point of doctrine, ought to be re- 
ferred to his ordinary; and if not, he humbly conceived the doc- 
trine was innocent and justifiable, setting aside the innuendos, 
for which there was not the least colour, seeing they had no 
referible antecedent, no bishop or clergyman of the church of 
England having been named. That the book in question, 
namely, Mr Baxter's Paraphrase, contained many precious and 
irrefragable truths : But the libellers, by applying the severe 
things to the bishops of the church of England, which Mr Bax- 
ter intended for bishops who had richly deserved the characters 
he has given them, as your lordship, if you are a reader of 
church history, must be well aware of, had endeavoured to turn 
an indispensable duty into a crime punishable by the laws of 
the land." 



RICHARD BAXTER. 71? 

" Mr Wallop (said Jefferies), I observe you are always in 
these dirty causes; and if it were not for you gentlemen of the 
long robe, who ought to have more wit and honesty than sup- 
port and hold up these factious knaves by the chin, we should 
not be at the pass we are." "My lord (said Mr Wallop), I 
humbly conceive the passages accused are natural deductions 
from the text." "You humbly conceive, and I humbly con- 
ceive. Swear him, swear him." " My lord (says he), under 
favour, I stand here counsel for the defendant; and if I under- 
stand either Latin or English, the information now brought 
against Mr Baxter, on so slender ground, is a much greater re- 
flection on the bishops and church of England than all that the 
book contains, for which my client is accused." " Some times 
(says Jefferies) you very humbly conceive, at other times you 
are very positive. You talk of your skill in church history, 
and of your knowledge in Latin and English — I think I should 
know something of them as well as you; but, in short, if you 
do not understand your duty better, I shall take the liberty to 
instruct you." Mr Wallop sat down. Mr Rotherham rose, 
and urged, " That as Mr Baxter, in the book libelled upon, had 
spoken well of the prelates of the church of England, and made 
some sharp reflections on the bishops of Rome by name, it was 
to be presumed the passages accused were only applicable to the 
bishops of the Romish, and not of the English church." Mr 
Baxter said, " My lord, I have been so very moderate with re- 
spect to the church of England, that I have incurred the dis- 
pleasure of not a few of the dissenters en that very account." 
Mr Rotherham added, " That Mr Baxter frequently attended 
divine service in the church, went to the sacrament, and per- 
suaded others to do so; and that e^en in the book so charged, he 
had spoken very moderately and honourably of the bishops of 
the church of England." " Baxter for bishops ! (exclaimed 
Jefferies) that's a merry conceit, truly. Turn up, turn up the 
passage." Rotherham turned up a place, where it is said, 
" That great respect is due to those truly called to be bishops 
among us." " Aye (says Jefferies), this is your presbyterian 
cant. Truly called to be bishops, that is himself, and such ras- 
cals, called to be bishops of Kidderminster and other places — 
bishops set apart by such factious snivelling presbyterians as 
himself. 'Tis a Kidderminster bishop he means." Mr Baxter 
again attempting to speak — " Richard, Richard, (said Jefferies), 
dost thou think I will hear thee poison the court. Richard, 
thou art an old fellow, and an old knave — thou hast written 
books sufficient to load a cart, every one of them as full of se- 
dition (I might say treason) as an egg's full of meat. Hadst 
thou been whipt out of thy writing trade forty years ago, it had 



718 MEMOIR OF 

been happy for England. Thou pretendest to be a preacher of 
the gospel of peace, and thou hast one foot in the grave, it is 
time to begin to think what account thou intendest to give; but 
leave thee to thyself, and I see thou'It go on as thou hast be- 
gun; but, by the grace of God, I shall look after thee. I know 
thou hast a mighty party, and I can see a great many of the 
brotherhood in corners, and no less than a doctor of the party 
(looking at Dr. Bates) at thine elbow, to see what will become 
of their mighty don; but, by the grace of Almighty God, I will 
crush you all." Mr Rotherham sitting down, Mr Atwood be- 
gan to show, that none of the passages, mentioned in the in- 
formation, ought to be strained to the sense put upon them by 
the innuendos, nor could any one of them be applied to the 
bishops of the church of England without an obviously forced 
construction. In proof of which, he attempted to read from the 
text and context, when Jefferies cried out, " You sha'n't draw me 
into a conventicle with your annotations, nor your snivelling 
parson neither." " My lord (said Atwood), I conceive this to 
be within RosswelPs case, lately tried before your lordship." 
" You conceive (said Jefferies), but you conceive amiss — It is 
not." " Then (said Atwood), that I may use the very best 
authority, permit me to quote your lordship's own words on that 
case." " No (says Jefferies), you shall not — Sit down !" Mr 
Williams and Mr Phipps said nothing, finding it to no purpose 
to attempt speaking. At last Mr Baxter said, " My lord, I 
think I can clearly answer all that has been brought against 
me, and I shall do it briefly. The sum is contained in these 
papers; to which, with your permission, I shall add a little by 
way of testimony." Jefferies would not hear a word; but sum- 
med up the matter in a long and fulsome harangue. The jury, 
without leaving the box, laid their heads together, and found 
him guilty. On July the 29th he had judgment given against 
him; which was, to be fined in five hundred marks, and lie in 
prison till it was paid, besides giving security of good behaviour 
for seven years. He was pardoned, however, by the king, and 
had the fine remitted when the toleration came forth; which 
the king afterwards granted on purpose to unfetter his Roman 
catholic partizans. In consequence of which, he was liberated 
in November the 24th, 1686. 

After this Mr Baxter contented himself with the situation of 
an assistant to Mr Silvester; in which capacity he laboured for 
four years and a-half, when he became so weak, that he was 
chiefly confined to his room; nor even then did he cease from 
his usefulness, so far as it was in his power to do good in his 
own house. He opened his doors morning and e\ r ening to all 
who chose to come and join with him in family worship, to 



RICHARD BAXTER. 719 

whom lie expounded the scriptures with great seriousness and 
freedom. But his distemper increasing, he was first confined 
to his chamber, and soon after to his bed, where he felt the 
approaches of death, which generally reveals the secrets of the 
heart. But Mr Baxter was the same in his life and his death. 
His last hours were employed in preparing others, as well as 
himself, for appearing before their Judge. 

To his friends, who visited him, he said, " You are come, I 
see, to learn to die; but, be assured, I am not the only person 
that must travel this road; and let me tell you, that whatever 
may be the length of your lives, you will find them short 
enough to complete your preparations for this important jour- 
ney. Guard yourselves against the snares and bewitching 
temptations of this vain, this deceitful, and transitory world. 
Make choice of God for your portion, his glory for your chief 
end, his word for the rule of your lives and conversation, and 
heaven for your everlasting home; and fear not but we shall 
meet again in joy unspeakable and full of glory." Being ask- 
ed how it was with his inward man, he said, " I bless God I 
have a well-grounded assurance of eternal happiness, and I 
have great peace and comfort within; but flesh, said he, must 
perish, and we must feel the anguish of its dissolution; and 
though my judgment submits to the will of our heavenly Fa- 
ther, still sense compels me to groan." He gave excellent 
counsel to some young ministers who visited him, and prayed 
to God to bless their labours, and make them successful in con- 
verting many souls to Christ. He often prayed that God would 
be merciful to this miserable and distracted world, and preserve 
his church from the power and malice of her enemies. And 
having thus spent a long and laborious life in the service of his 
adorable Master, and followed him through good and bad re- 
port, he rested from his labours on the 8th of December 1691, 
in the seventy-sixth year of his age. His mortal remains were 
interred in Christ Church, whither they were attended by a 
most numerous company of all ranks and qualities, particularly 
ministers, some of whom were conformists, who thought it ne- 
cessary to pay him that last office of respect. There were two 
discourses delivered on occasion of his funeral, one by Dr. 
Bates, and the other by Mr Silvester, which were afterwards 
published. 

Few men have had a larger share of bodily weakness and 
infirmities than this good man; which circumstance, as hint- 
ed before, cherished the peculiar seriousness of his spirit, ^nd 
seemed for ever to whisper in his ear, " Whatsoever thine 
hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might." It induced him 
to set about every part of his work as one jnst on the point of 



7^0 MEMOIR OF 

entering into another world. Being at one time visited with 
an unusual bodily distemper, which threatened to end his days, 
and ruminating on the promises of the gospel for comfort 
under his affliction, his faith was powerfully assailed with 
doubts respecting the truth of the scriptures, and the immorta- 
lity of the soul. Some such thoughts had often, before this, 
run across his mind, which he had always repelled as unworthy 
of consideration. On this occasion, however, they stuck so 
close, that he found it impossible to get rid of them without ex- 
amining the matter to the very foundation ; and that he might 
satisfy himself with regard to the grounds on which Christiani- 
ty was erected, and that his faith might be indeed his own, he 
gave a candid hearing to all that could be said against it. 

In this important inquiry he began with the foundation of 
all religion, the existence of a God. The stu^c^us works 
of nature convinced him of the power, wisdom, and goodness of 
the all-powerful Worker; so that he looked upon the man as 
destitute of reason, who questioned whether there was a God, 
or dreamed that the worlds were formed by a conflux of inert 
atoms, or that reason could spring from that which was utterly 
destitute of reason, or that man, or any inferior creature, was, 
or could be, independent; or yet that all the wisdom, goodness, 
and power observable, wherever we turn our eyes, could have 
found their way thither without a cause transcendently super- 
excelling all that it had caused in the world. Being firmly fix- 
ed in this leading point, he could easily perceive, that this God, 
being our Creator, must necessarily be related to us as our 
owner, governor, and benefactor, and that we therefore stand 
in the relation of his subjects and beneficiaries. Hence the 
duties arising out of these relations become as discernible to 
the reason of man, as the relations on which they are founded; 
so that godliness is a duty so undeniably required in the law of 
nature, and so discernible by reason itself, that nothing but 
unreasonableness can contradict it. With this view of the mat- 
ter, Mr Baxter could not conceive it possible, that this God 
would suffer his children to be losers by their love, gratitude, 
and dutiful regard towards him, or that persons should be the 
more miserable by how much the more faithful they were. 
Observing the prosperity of wicked men, and the afflictions, 
disgrace, and persecutions attending on many, whose lives are 
patterns of virtue and benevolence, he perceived the possibility, 
nay, the strong probability, of a life to come, wherein virtue 
should find its reward, and evil its demerit. He saw, more- 
over, that a strange and universal enmity existed between the 
earthly and the heavenly mind, fulfilling the prediction of the 
holy scriptures, Gen. iii. 15.; and observing that no other reli- 



RICHARD BAXTER. 721 

gion in the world could stand in competition with Christianity. 
That heathenism and mahometanism, kept up by tyranny and 
brutal ignorance, blush to stand at the bar of reason; while Ju- 
daism is but Christianity in embryo; and pure deism, its more 
plausible competitor, has been so discarded in almost every na- 
tion, that nature seems to have made her own confession, that 
without a mediator there is no access to God, and that without 
the shedding of blood there is no remission. Neither could he 
conceive that God would make use of a deceiver for such a 
visible reformation of the nature of man. He observed an ad- 
mirable suitableness, in the office of Christ, to the purposes of 
God, and the felicity of men, and how appropriately superna- 
tural revelations take their place in subserviency to natural re- 
ligion. Satisfied, at last, that the holy scriptures are the wis- 
dom and ptw@f*>f God to every one that believeth, he remark- 
ed, that nothing can be so firmly believed as that concerning 
which men have been some time in doubt; and that it is a be- 
lief of the truth of revelation, and the life to come, that sets all 
the graces in motion; and with, or without which, they flourish 
or fade, are accelerated or stand still. 

Mr Baxter found, that the temper of his mind altered some- 
thing similar to the alterations which age gradually made on 
that of his body. When he was young, he felt himself more 
fervent, vigorous, and affectionate, in preaching, conversation, 
prayer, and other religious exercises, than he could often attain 
to in his advanced age; but then he found his judgment more 
solid and unwavering. In youth he was much quicker in 
comprehending, and could, with greater facility, manage things 
suddenly presented; but age and experience enabled him better 
to discriminate between truth and error, and to discover a mul- 
titude of common mistakes which had passed unnoticed in the 
early part of his life. In his youth he was fond of controversy, 
and ready to conclude, that conciliators were but ignorant men, 
who, wishing to please all, pretended to reconcile the world 
upon principles which they did not understand. By long ex- 
perience, however, he could perceive, that, the amiableness of 
peace and christian harmony apart, the advocates of reconcilia- 
tion generally possessed greater light, and more substantial ar- 
gument, than either of the contending parties. 

In his younger years Mr Baxter was as much enamoured 
with the style of an author as with his arguments, and consider- 
ed that the former gave no small degree of energy to the latter. 
But at length he became indifferent to all these rhetorical or- 
naments in the investigation of truth, convinced that it stands 
in no need of such meretricious embellishments, but is best 
discovered in its naked simplicity. His opinion of mankind 

26 4 v 



7^2 MEMOIR OF 

also greatly altered with his increasing knowledge of the world. 
He found few men so good when he came near them, as he had 
apprehended they were while at a distance, and hut few so bad 
as the malicious and censorious world are apt to represent 
them; and though, in some individuals, he found human nature 
transformed into a nearer likeness to devils than he at one pe- 
riod thought possible, yet even in the wicked he found there 
was generally more for grace to take advantage o£ and more 
to witness for God and godliness, than he once could believe 
there had been. Finding, by experience, what cruelty, injus- 
tice, and other audacious crimes, have often lurked under the 
cloak of a zealous profession of religion, set off with great 
powers of utterance, he became careless of these tinsel evidences 
in estimating the worth of an individual, conscious that great 
piety, and true devotion, are often concealed under the simple 
garb of unassuming modesty. As Mr Baxter advanced in years, 
he became more liberal in his sentiments concerning christian 
communion. He was not for robbing Christ of any part of his 
flock, by cutting them off from the communion of the church 
for matters of indifference; but still the necessity of church dis- 
cipline appeared to him more and more indispensable; for no- 
thing, he conceived, could be more derogative to the cause of 
Christianity, than a church composed of members, who, for 
want of proper discipline, must ultimately become as vicious as 
pagans and mahometans, and differ from their assemblies only 
in ceremony and name. In a word, his soul was more afflicted 
with the thoughts of a miserable world, and more desirous of 
propagating the gospel among the savage nations, though he 
was not inclined to pass sentence of damnation on all those 
who had never heard of the Saviour, as he had been in the 
days of his youth. 

Mr Baxter was fond of a quiet and retired life, and yet it 
was not in his power to conceal his worth from observation and 
respect. My lord Broghill, afterwards earl of Orrery, lord 
president of Munster, greatly valued him, and entertained him 
most respectfully at his house. While he continued there ; he 
became acquainted with the learned and pious archbishop Usher, 
and their mutual visits were frequent. He had occasion to be 
often with the lord chancellor Clarendon, who carried it with 
a great show of respect towards him; and at his earnest and re- 
peated solicitations, did an essential service to New England. 
The matter is this : 

Mr Elliot having learned the American language, and con- 
verted many of the barbarous natives to Christianity, was 
anxious to settle regular churches among them. In order to 
this, it was necessary first to build houses to draw them to- 



RICHARD BAXTER. 7^3 

gether, and provide a maintenance for ministers to preach 
among them, and school masters to instruct their children. 
For this purpose Cromwell set on foot a general collection 
throughout the whole kingdom. The people gave liberally to 
so good a work, and the money was put into the hands of a cor- 
poration, who purchased seven or eight hundred pounds worth 
of land yearly, which was appropriated to the service of the 
gospel in those parts. The land was purchased from an officer 
of the king's army, a papist, who, upon the restoration of the 
king, seized on the land, and would neither restore it nor the 
purchase money — pretending that, the corporation having been 
appointed by Cromwell, the transaction was illegal and void. 
Mr Baxter urged lord Clarendon on the subject, who, after a 
vear's delay, got the matter happily adjusted; and Mr Baxter 
soon after received letters of hearty thanks from the governor 
and court of New England, also from Mr Elliot and Mr Nor- 
ton, acknowledging the signal service he had done them. 

After Mr Baxter was silenced with the rest of his brethren, 
he had letters from foreign divines full of respect, solicit- 
ing his correspondence; which, for fear it might be misinter- 
preted by government, he was obliged to decline. In even the 
worst times he had several at court, and about the king, who 
were very respectful to him. While living at Acton, he had 
the pleasure of free conversation with that mirror of justice, 
and ornament of his country, the worthy Sir Matthew Hale, 
lord chief baron of the exchequer, who lived in his neighbour- 
hood. Their conversation turned chiefly upon the main points 
of religion, the immortality of the soul, the certainty of a fu- 
ture state, &c. Sir Matthew greatly lamented the extremities 
of the times, and the violence of some of the clergy, and was 
very desirous of such abatements as might admit all useful per- 
sons. He manifested his respect to Mr Baxter, during the time 
he was in prison upon the Oxford act, by passing an honourable 
encomium upon his character, both for piety and learning, be- 
fore all the judges; and, as a mark of his esteem, left him a small 
legacy in his will. The earl of Balcarras, who was driven from 
Scotland by Cromwell, and afterwards attended at court, very 
highly respected Mr Baxter, after having read his works, 
which he was induced to do by the recommendation of the earl 
of Lauderdale. Balcarras was considered the head of the 
presbyterians at this time; but a misunderstanding having taken 
place between him and lord Clarendon, he was dismissed the 
court, and soon after died of a consumption; but lady Balcarras 
was nothing behind her husband in her respects to this distin- 
guished divine. 

But in the whole course of his life, Mr Baxter had no 



724 MEMOIR OF RICHARD BAXTER. 

friend whom he more valued, or by whom he was more belov- 
ed, than Henry Ashurst, commonly called alderman Ashurst, 
one of the most exemplary persons for eminent sobriety, self- 
denial, piety, and christian benevolence, that London could at 
any time boast of. In short, few men have ever had more writ- 
ten against them, by the different denominations, nor more false 
reports circulated concerning them, than Mr Baxter; for being 
of no party, and holding some peculiar opinions, living and dy- 
ing he was respected and admired by men of moderate princi- 
ples, while he was slighted and reproached by zealots of almost 
every denomination. 

As a writer, few men have written more, or to better purpose. 
His books, for number and variety of matter, might form a li- 
brary. They contain a treasure of controversial, casuistical, 
positive, and practical divinity. Such at least was the opinion 
of the judicious Dr. Bates; nor was he alone of this sentiment. 
The excellent bishop Wilkins did not hesitate to assert, " That 
he had cultivated every subject he had handled;" and the learn- 
ed and ingenious Dr. Barrow gives this as his judgment con- 
cerning them, " That his practical works were never mended, 
and his controversial ones seldom confuted." Mr Calamy tells 
us " That the books he wrote amounted to more than one hun- 
dred and twenty;" and an Editor, who published a Life of Mi- 
Baxter, says, " He has seen one hundred and forty-five distinct 
Treatises, whereof four were folios, seventy-three quartos, for- 
ty-nine octavos, and nineteen twelves and twenty-fours, besides 
single sheets, separate Sermons, and at least twenty-five Pre- 
faces to other men's works." 



FINIS, 



MACKENZIE, PRINTER. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: April 2005 

PreservationTechnoioglej 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATIOI 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



■ d IRS 

"CCC^ C 

"c~ c<r G 
Fee: <a 

1 «&C! 






: etc* 



1 K CC 

^cc. 









<r<r -cc cere 

CT<3C:CceCC 

3 7 <^cccX' 

ll': <k?r OX - 

5~<xp:eK 

cteoscc 
cccjScc 

cHtCp 
<c «£PCC~ - 

<CcG «C 
^- : <GCA 









CC - 

~ or cc 

ccr 

c <rc • 

"C CCC. 
"C ccc. 

3 cOC 
Tg C CI 

tccc 



cere 



<%£■■& &h\ 



ecp^c ceccLcic^<c clcc c 

*% c«:cgc<xxm®:c ccc 

j ^c^c cccjcfeci ccc < 

£ ^CCC^C CLOS^d CCC < 



lm. &C CCCCJcc CTCtStE « 

ccccgc. occccc ciotec < 

cccce cxccssc CTc^lcfc 

ccccacc ccrcsc gx&c 

CCCC3 CL CLCCOC COBOC 

Qcorac feccK; cc&otc 

<c«<«c <scm: csfoss 



cccccc 

aCCCST 






ccc < 

ccc 

JXOL 



2CC<" 



ar«o ccccc 

c«xr cccsrc 

xc^_cc«c: 



cc:cgcc (Eccc 



ccccc 

esc cezc 






Cess ccc« 
cccdCC c<c«< 



"^c<sc^pciccca^.ccc^^ 



33 Cd 

C 



ZC CCC€ffi€ 

crcc cc <^^i 



< C CtCii 



<fpGC<sxs£L <cxc «t<<§ra3 

«3«L <Ec<KI<C«3£L <C2X ^^p: 

^<CCC «^>SOC| 

St^T^E: MOST 



; r:<c <^<cr<c 



MI tiT &C< 



^r 



